Budding Love
by VivicaJade
Summary: It all starts when Kagome forces Inuyasha To make sure Hojo gets home saftely, then it's one small step at a time till somethings bound to happen, right?
1. He's not so Bad

_**Look, look I rewrote...the first chapter. Yep I've decided to rewrite the story the best I can. This means not starting out with them in a relation ship and slowly introducing the fuedal era to Hojo...and the real reason for Inuyasha's ears. **_

_**Anyways here's the story**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha!**_

**Chapter one: Maybe He's Not so Bad.**

Inuyasha sat in the tree looking over at Kagome's window watching the two people talk, arms crossed and a small hint of a scowl on his face.

He had known about the boy since a while back when he first caught a hint of his scent on Kagome. He never asked her about him figuring she would only get irritated like usual when he asked her things. He had seen him once before at Kagome's school. The idiot was talking to Kagome about her fake illness. Obviously the kid was blind Kagome didn't even look sick.

Inuyasha huffed and jumped higher into the tree. Initially it was because of his crush on Kagome that he didn't like the other male, but then after his crush had disappeared the boy was just flat out annoying, always being polite and friendly even when others made fun of him it was pathetic, why didn't he stand up for himself? why didn't he punch them or something?

Inuyasha watched the two laugh at something that Hojo said and rolled his eyes. He really didn't see how anything that guy could say would turn out funny. Growling to no one inparticular, He turned his head away from the house and leaned back with against the tree.

If Kagome decided to stay home again, he'd have to drag her back to his time by force.

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Kagome sat at her desk waiting for Hojo to get done checking over her work. He was really a nice guy and she turned him down so much, she felt bad. But he had gotten over it and soon stopped asking her out all together and now he just helped her catch up on her school work.

"Very good Kagome, It all correct!" Hojo smiled happily handing the girl back her work. "You're a pretty fast learner, you shouldn't have any problems with the test tomorrow"

"Great I can't wait!" She chirped feeling happy at finally getting her work right.

Hojo nodded. "Keep up the optimism and I'm sure you'll do fine." He said walking over to her bedroom door. "I'll see you tomorrow Kagome"

"Oh wait I'll walk you out, Hojo!" Kagome exclaimed jumping out of her seat trialing after him.

"Thank you Kagome." The boy said remembering his manners as they reached the front door.

Kagome laughed waving it off. "It's not a problem you did help me with school after all!"

Hojo paused and was about to say something before closing his mouth and shaking his head. "I'll see you tomorrow Kagome. Try to get to school on time okay?"

Kagome nodded and waved good bye watching as he walked down the side walk and down the stairs. Kagome's smile turned into a frown once the boy was out of earshot.

"Sit boy!"

the shout resulted in a loud crash followed by a string of curses as the half demon waited for the spell to were off. The girl walked over to the new hole and glared down at her friend. "What are you doing here?! I told you I'd be back soon!"

"Yeah well we need you with us to collect the jewel shards! We can't do anything unless your there and you have been gone for three days!" He shouted back after jumping up to face her.

"I told you I have a test tomorrow, if I fail this test I'll fail the whole grade!" Kagome yelled back agitated by Inuyasha's impatient behavior. He was such a pain sometimes but what could she do He was one of her best friends.

"Look I'll go back to the feudal era tomorrow right after school. . .If you do me a favor and make sure Hojo get's home alright"

"What?! Why do I have to watch that guy go home it's not like he's a little kid! I'm sure he'll get home just fine and even if he doesn't it's not my problem."

"Inuyasha Hojo's a friend of mine and I would like him to get home in one piece and he lives all the way across town and it's the middle of the night! Now go make sure he gets home!" She demanded angrily.

Inuyasha growled back just as angry. "Fine but your going back tomorrow right after you get back! I mean it no more 'just one more day' crap!" He growled back and ran off before she could argue.

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Hojo looked around the streets, He had left The Higurashi shrine twenty minutes ago and for the past fifteen minutes he could swear someone was following him. He kept hearing footsteps but there was nobody out and trees shook when there was no wind.

Hojo had to admit he could be pretty clueless at times but, he was not a complete idiot. He knew someone was there, it was just that they weren't visible or they were hiding.

The teen stopped dead in his tracks as he heard low dull thump. This time he turned around but still there was nothing there, No people, no stray animals, no cars, nothing. Though for a second he could have sworn he seen a flash of silver when he looked up towards a building, but less then a second later it was gone.

Shaking his fear out of his head he turned around and continued his trek home, Maybe he was just being paranoid after all.

Hojo had gotten no further then a few feet when a loud crash sounded through the empty streets followed by someone shouting in a very colorful language.

So he wasn't Paranoid after all.

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Inuyasha was doing great in both stay unseen and freaking the living hell out of this wimpy kid. Inuyasha smirked as he jumped down right behind the other male making a thud on the concrete before immediately jumping up to the roof of a nearby building.

The silver haired half demon peered over the edge of the roof watching the younger boy look around for the source of the noise.

Inuyasha almost got too comfortable and barley escaped being seen when the human decided to look up. Inuyasha gave it a few seconds before peering back over the edge letting out a sigh of relief when the teen was walking again.

Standing up he let out a snort of laughter. This kid was an idiot, had it been him in that guy's place He would have done sniffed out the noise maker and killed it. Hell even one of the villagers back home would have been smarter then this kid. What was with the men in Kagome's time anyway? Did they grow stupider over the years or somthing?

Inuyasha who was arrogantly jumping from one roof to the next failed to measure out the distance of the next house and ended up missing the thing completely and came crashing down into a garbage dump.

"Dammit!" He yelled followed by almost every foul word you could possibly imagine to describe his situation. Jumping up he clamped a hand over his sensitive nose at the smell of something rancid and sour, something in one of those bags seriously reeked and inuyasha felt like he was ready to upchuck his dinner.

"Hello?"

Inuyasha completely froze in his ministrations, slowly looking over at the boy who had bravely ventured over to the dark alleyway. The boy was just standing there staring at him blankly. He didn't look disgusted or afriad and he hadn't freaked out he was just staring.

Inuyasha's ears twitched nervously waiting for the teen to give some kind of reaction, but it appeared the kid was having a hard time registering the situation.

Irritated Inuyasha crossed his arms defaintley, growling. "What are you staring at?!" he snapped, smirking when the other jumped.

"I was. . .I heard a crash. . ." Hojo replied slowly wondering if the silver haired man's fuzzy ears were real. "I wanted to see if you were okay. . ."

Inuyasha rolled his eye's jumping up into a nearby tree. "Of course I'm okay, So I look like some little weakling human to you?" he asked as the others eyes widened slightly from Inuyasha's large leap.

". . .Um. . .what. . .who are you"

"Inuyasha."

"Oh. I'm-"

"Hojo. Yeah I know spare me."

Hojo gave the man a weird look. "How do you know my name." Hojo asked suspiciously . He was pretty sure he had never seen this man before and he was positive he would of remembered meeting a guy like this. It wouldn't be easy to forget a young guy with silvery white hair and for crying out loud he had dog ears. How would anyone be able to forget some one like this.

The Half demon let out an irritated growl slightly scaring the younger male. "Kagome told me to make sure you got home in one piece."

Inuyasha sat back while Hojo looked completely confused. He knew he was wondering about his ears, Kagome told him before that no one in her time would have demon traits and as far as he himself had seen, she was right. He hadn't seen one person with even so much as one drop of demon blood in them. Which would explain the reason why Kagome told him to wear a hat constantly and told him to keep out of peoples vision. It would also explaion why this kid kept staring at his ears.

"Is there a problem?!" He shouted down at the boy who shook his head negatively at the angered man. "Good then can we get going, I don't want to waste my time standing around here waiting for you to get your senses back."

blushing Hojo tore his eye's away from Inuyasha and once again started on his way home. It would be another forty five minutes before he reached home. So Hojo had to wonder why anyone would go out of there way just to make sure he got home safely. The silver haired male didn't seem to happy about, and seemed a little antisocial to boot. So why would he agree to see him home.

Then again he did say that Kagome told him to but still why would he listen. Kagome knew he lived an hour away so why would this stranger take an hour out of his own time to make sure somebody who he didn't know all that well was safe.

Hojo concluded in his own mind that the question was to complicated for him to understand and decided to oush the thought to the back of his mind for now.

Inuyasha was following behind the darker haired teen watching as he would shake his head occasionally or when would stumble a bit from being tired. The boy slowly stopped and the half demon growled fromm impatience as the boy stop in front of a building looking at it questioningly.

Inuyasha's eye's narrowed. '_That kid better not..._' However it was too late seeing as the boy walked into the store. "Dammit!" he yelled jumping up to the roof of the building to wait.

It was another fifteen minutes before he came back out three bag small plastic bags in his hands, a small smile on his face. Inuyasha waited until the other started walking again before jumping down landing slightly behind him.

Hojo not being used to the others presence jumped slightly and slowly looked behind him. "Hello, Inuyasha. . ."

"Don't you 'Hello Inuyasha' me! I told you I wanted to get back to Kagome's as quickly as possible! I don't have time for you to be stopping in places like this and taking forever!" He growled out glaring at Hojo.

Instead of looking scared or guilty like inuyasha first thought the boy would react, he seemed practically unfazed and gave him a smile.

"Sorry, here take this." He said reaching into on of the bags pulling out a smaller bag of chips. "Consider it a small thank you."

Inuyasha slowly took the bag blinking at it before opening it, he sniffed at the contents a few times before decide it was safe to eat them. Taking one out and testing it. "These don't taste like the ones Kagome brings us."

Hojo nodded in agreement. "They wouldn't, I got them from a health food store. Kagome most likely just gets you normal things from a regular grocery store." Hojo explained and continued walking, Inuyasha not too far behind.

"How long does it take to get to your home!" Inuyasha exclaimed braking the silence that had formed over the past ten minutes.

Hojo's smile faded and he looked over at him finally knowing why the dog eared man agreed. He didn't know how far away he lived. "Um well it usually takes about an hour, but considering how close we are now I'd say about twenty minutes or so if were lucky it'll be about fifteen." He said taking in his surroundings too judge how far away from his house they were.

He saw Inuyasha scowl and he sighed. "You didn't really have to do this. . .I'm pretty sure if you turn back now, Kagome wouldn't know the difference."

Inuyasha looked over at the boy out of the corner of his eye. It was true he didn't want to walk this annoying guy home and he did say he only had twenty more minutes before he got home but, if something happened in those twenty minutes Kagome would never forgive him and she'd probably get upset and that would make him feel guilty.

However there was a good chance nothing would happen, it didn't seem like there were any people out other then the occassional mechanical things called car. Although how many times had He and the others walked into traps without there being any sign of danger. . .it was better not to chance it.

Finally the Half demon shook his head. "No, it's too risky. If I turn back and you get killed on your way home Kagome would sit me till I reached the pits of hell."

Hojo smiled at Inuyasha again this time a little strained. "uh...I appreciate it, thank you." He replied shifting his bags in his hands. This guy was really weird and he was starting to think this guy was some kind of hybrid experiment from how big his canines were when he gave that arrogant smirk that proudly showed them off.

"You better. I don't normally go around doing stuff like this, so you better be grateful." Inuyasha said with a hint of a growl and started walking leaving Hojo to trail behind, only switching positions when Inuyasha remembered that he didn't know where he was going.

Inuyasha looked over at the teen as he lead the way to his house still smiling. He hadn't once said something about his ears or made a argued about any thing Inuyasha had said. He was even a little too polite but, that could have been over looked.

Hojo looked back at inuyasha, feeling the other staring. The taller male gave him a small glare before looking away offensively. His smile widened slightly as he looked back in front of him feeling slightly happier then before

Inuyasha turned his gaze back to hojo when he was sure he wasn't looking back anymore. Maybe this Kid wasn't so bad.

_**Well uh probably not the best thing but oh well, It actually turned out a bit longer then planned so. . . yeah. Well let me know if you liked it and hopefully I'll have the next chapter out as soon as I can! **_

-BS


	2. Headache

**_Hello. . .Please don't kill me! I know it's been a while since I updated but there was a lot of drama going on around here,plus with holidays making me lazy and all...but I finished the second chapter, right? well anyways it's not that great of a chapter but I needed something to put here until hojo Actually goes back into the feudal era like i said i'm trying not to rush things this time. _**

**_well enjoy. . .hopefully_**

**_Disclaimer: I Don't own Inuyasha_**

**Chapter Two: Headache**

**_

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_**It was a normal day just like any other day in his life. He had went to school did his homework talk to Kagome asked her if she needed any help with her school worked and walked home. 

Then somehow ended up following her home playing spy and hiding behind boxed listening in on the Youngest Higurashi female talk to her family.

How did he end hiding behind a box filled with ancient artifacts and family heirlooms?

He ended up here when that question that had been plaguing him for ages got o him and he followed his classmate home, the qusetion being, Why did he have dog ears?

It had been two weeks since that guy had walked home with him and the reason behind the dog ears had been on his mind since. So all that time Hojo just wondered why does that guy have dog ears. It was a question that hojo had been asking himself on a daily basis for the past two weeks.

It was one of those questions that plagued your mind, and would continue to do so until you found the answers you sought out.

However how could one find answers to that one question, when the only one who held those answers was hardly ever around? It was a frustrating matter that he could have delt with in a number of ways, like asking her maybe or even slowly work his way to the subject and give out a few lines till she slipped.

Anything thing could have been better then kneeling behind a boxes in the Higurashi shrine, trying to eavesdrop and getting his new uniform dirty.

"Alright I'm leaving now I'll see you all when I get back!"

That was definitely Kagome's voice but, where could she be going? They were in the well house weren't they.

"Alright dear, just be careful."

There was no doubt that the worried voice came from Ms. Higurashi herself

"I will mom."

"And say 'hi' to Inuyasha for me!"

And that was Souta.

"Okay! See you all soon, and tell grandpa to find a more reasonable sickness this time. Like the flu or something!" She exclaimed scowling at her grandfathers poor ability to think reasonably.

Her mother and brother laughed to themselves. As the girl stepped fully into the small stucture and shut the door.

Hojo peeked out from behind the box completely curious as to what his class mate was up to. He watched as she slipped her yellow bag, which seemed to keep growing over her shoulders and climbed over the edge of the well. Kagome took a deep breathe. And to Hojo's utter disbelief and horror she jumped.

the teen jumped out from behind the boxes to try and save the suicidal girl, well she would have been if it wasn't for the blinding purple light and the fact that she disappeared.

Hojo stared at into the well with wide eyes. What had just happened, he knew Kagome just jumped into the well, but were did she go, and what was that light?

He stood there a few more minutes before he slowly backed away and snuck out of the well house and off the higurashi property, with another question he knew he would lose sleep over.

That was something else about questions. Trying to find out the answers to questions sometimes lead to more questions and could possibly start a whole cycle of questions that would possibly never get answered.

Maybe it would be best to just forget the whole thing, Forget about Inuyasha and move on with his life.

But that purple flash of light, what was that? And where did Kagome go?

Hojo winced visibly as the new question popped up in his mind.

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Kagome started making her way up the well a smile on her face. It felt good to be back.

She must have been spacing because as soon as she blinked she saw a hand reaching out to her. Looking up she spotted Sango smiling back at her and Kirara sitting on the ledge with the small fox demon child sitting next to her.

Once Kagome was out of the well she gave a pleased sigh, glad to be rid of her huge back pack, which Sango agreed to carry for her. She looked around for a sign of Inuyasha but ended up confused when she didn't spot him.

Fortunately Sango caught on to her friends Confusion and gave let out a small laugh. "Lady Kaede sent them Inuyasha and Miroku out with the fishermen early this morning to catch some fish.

Kagome turned back to the other girl. "They haven't been back yet?"

"Kaede's trying to get a supply of fish to last the village for a while, so they'll be out four a few more hours." The older woman explained further shifting the yellow bag on her shoulder.

"I bet Inuyasha's thrilled." Kagome said sarcastically laughing at the image of the Half demon catching fish with an annoyed look on his face.

Sango nodded, "Especailly since he's been at it for a few days now."

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On the other side of the village, Inuyasha and Miroku stood knee deep in water concentrating on keeping still. Inuyasha being bored and Miroku silently yelling at the half demon.

It hadn't been hard for the half demon to catch the fish seeing as he had his demon reflexes and good senses to help him, It almost mad the dark haired monk jelous of his friends abilities. He was getting a little irritated at the fact that by the time he had caught two fish the half demon had caught at least fifteen.

"Dammit how did we get stuck doing this?" Inuyasha growled as he lazily swooped up another fish out of the water and threw it into a bucket.

Miroku watched the fish go in and silently cursed his friend for the umpteenth time. "Come now, Inuyasha.it's all part of belonging to a village, you have to help one another out and that mean you must take up a job to help keep the village going. Woman clean, cook and help with crops. The men fish, hunt and farm."

"We Protect them from demons. That's our job. Humans are just lazy and can't do anything themselves."

Miroku shook his head and rejoiced when he finally caught a fish. He tossed his catch into his own bucket to join his small collection of eight. He looked up to the demon who was once again braking a record of who can catch more. "It's not because we're human that we need help. Most demons are made for self reliance, humans are not, so we need to live in groups and live in an order that helps us survive. "

Inuyasha snorted and threw once more fish at his bucket watching as it bounced out and hit the ground. "Whatever I'm going back to the village, My buckets full. Plus Kagome's back."

Miroku sighed but nodded and returned to his job.

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Inuyasha walked into the hut, carrying his bucket in one hand and an irritated expression.

"Your back already Inuyasha?" Sango asked as he sat down pacing the food beside him.

Inuyasha gave an arrogant laugh, crossing his arms. "I'm not as slow as you humans are, it doesn't take me all day to catch such a small amount of fish."

Sango and Kagome glared half-heartedly at their friends rude behavior while Kaede gave an amused smile.

"Very well then, Tomorrow you can catch five extra pales of fish and I'll give some of the men a day of rest." The old woman said turning around and pretending not to see the look of horror on the Half demons face.

The two younger girls laughed at his misfortune. "That's what happens when you brag, Inuyasha. " Sango said as she began halping Kaede with dinner.

"Shut up! I wasn't bragging!"

"Says you."

"Kagome, Help me out here!" Inuyasha shouted to her, only recieving a shake of the head.

"No way. You shouldn't have been gloating" She scolded as she started to go threw her bag turning her back on him.

The silver haired male huffed and sat in a corner of the room away from the rest. "Some friends you are. . ."

The group laughed at the disgruntled male who in turn glared at them heatedly from the corner.

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Hojo sat in his room starting at his paper. Actually he was staring past the paper. Even though he tried repeatedly he couldn't get the questions out of his head. Dog ears were one things, but flashing lights coming out of ancient wells? Not even he was that dense.

It was killing him, but he couldn't just go up and ask Kagome now could he. She would question him about how he knew and maybe it was just him but the response of 'Oh, I was hiding behind boxes in the well house because I was spying on you!' seemed a bit on the 'creepy stalker' side.

He looked down at it half finished math assignment and sighed. Maybe he could call in sick tomorrow at school and stay home to finish it. He would would just have to stay up a bit later tommorow night to do the make up work. . . Then he could sneak into the well house again and hopefully get some answers.

Hojo shook sighed again letting his head fall onto his desk. Why couldn't those thoughts just leave him alone?

"Hojo dear are you still awake?" The male turned his head to the door in surprise hearing the question that had been followed light tapping.

"Mother, what are you doing home?" He said slowly as his door opened. It wasn't that he didn't like his mother, but usually she was at work at this time.

The woman stood in the door way, her dark brown hair was tied back at the nape of her neck her bangs however seemed to be sneaking out of there confined and falling in her tired hazel eyes. "I took off tonight. I pulled one to many all nighters this week. Have you ate yet sweety?"

Hojo smiled at his mother a nodded. "Of course, mother."

It was a lie, he had been too stressed over the thoughts running threw his head to eat, but it kept his mother happy right?

His mother flashed him a proud yet exhausted smile. "Thats good. I'll be heading off to bed then. If you need anything just wake me." she said softly waiting for her son's nod before walking out.

Hojo looked back at his paper which seemed to be viciously taunting him with his confusion. So in retaliation he glared at his paper for the next five minutes hoping it would magically catch fire and burn to ash.

Another few minutes past by before he yawn loudly. "Perhaps I should get some sleep as well. . ." He thought out loud as he got up from his chair and walked over to his bed to lay down.

Once he got settle into bed he look out his bedroom window, he hadn't noticed before but there was a light rain tapping against the glass and every few seconds the clouds would cover the moon and it would cast shadow in his room making it appear like something in a horror movie. Or maybe his lack of sleep was causing him to see things.

Hojo groaned and turned away from his window. All this thinking was giving him a headache.

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he sat in the tree one foot propped up the other hanging over the side. One clawed hand picking mercilessly at the bark while the other tapped repeatedly against his leg.

He couldn't figure out why, but for some reason he couldn't sit still. After they ate dinner and laid down to sleep he found himself getting restless and unable to sleep. So soon enough he found himself in a random tree scratching at the bark in an attempt to figure out 'why'.

Maybe it was because the night of the new moon was approaching, or maybe it was because the crickets were chirping a little too loudly. Hell for all he knew it could of been because of brain damage from Kagome sitting him one too many time. Truthfully he didn't care what it was but it was pissing him off like there was no tomorrow.

Maybe a it was becuase Kagome was going back tomorrow.

Didn't she know that Naraku could be getting ready for his next move this very second. How the hell were they supposed to prepair with her gone. How were they supposed to find the remaining jewel shards if she was back home scribbling on paper?

With a frustrated growl, Inuyasha leapt further up in the tree taking a seat on a sturdy branch. The girl was so selfish, but she was even more bossy then she was selfish. Always telling him what to do it was either that or she would yell that cursed word. It never mattered what he did he would hear those words at least twice a day. And for what? Because he didn't like spicy food or becuase he was a little too rough with the kid. Hey the food was too spicy and the kid was a crybaby.

Then there was the fact that every village they came across he'd end up having to save it because of Kagomes meddling. The girl was too nosy for her own good. But what would happen if he decided to leave her to fend for her self. One, he would get 'sat' and two, he would be left with no shard detecter and even though he hated to admit it he be one friend less. Make that four if the others found out.

On the other side, she was a nice girl, she was loyal and even when she was scared she'd do what she could to protect some one, even if it ment bribing one of your closest friends to walk some pathetic weakling human home. What was wrong with her time. Here in his time men were pretty capable of taking care of them selves, but that boy you might as wel have called him a girl with his helpless look.

Inuyasha looked up at the sky watching the clouds cover the moon.

Maybe he was judging him too quickly. Afterall, Miroku didn't look strong he didn't act it either but he was. Same with shippo, he was a strong kid. But, calling him a girl wouldn't work, Sang was a humane female, but she was just a strong as any human male out there. He had personal experience to prove that one. As for Kagome, yeah, her aim was shitty but those arrows always had a great amount of power behind them, even if she didn't train.

Inuyasha's left ear twitch as a small drop of rain hit it before it started to pour down the rain pelting the half demon with the help from a gust of wind.

The half demon shook his head. That guy was nothing more then a weak naive human and Inuyasha couldn't care weather he lived or died.

Jumping out of the tree inuyasha made his way back to the hut, ignoring the pain in his head.

* * *

_Yeah like I said this probably wasn't that great of a chapter but yeah. Well let me know how i'm doing and I'll try my damnedest not to suck._


	3. Annoyance

**_I'm very sorry for not updating. I didn't have a computer for the longest time and it took a while to actually to get it to start normally. There was a huge thing in our house to get a new one, but I was too attached to get rid of mine. I typed this up as quick as I could so if it seems off you know why, plus I need to read the first to chapter to remember what was going on exactly. lol. But I just wanted to let you know I do intend to continue my story._**

**_So. . .Enjoy this chapter as much as possable.!_**

****

_Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha_

Chapter Three: Annoyance

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The down pour that had started the night before had yet to let up, it made it extremely hard for him to get up in time for school. He had decided that he would focus on school, and investigate on his free time. That meant he would have to wait for hours of agonizing curiosity before he could start snooping around.

Being overly curious wasn't something he was proud of but it did get him answers. . .most of the time. It had it's bad side though. Like lack of sleep and this anxious feeling that wouldn't go away until he either lost interest or got his answer.

Currently he was tapping his pencil on his desk and his foot tapping on the floor in some messed up rhythm. He had finished his work at least twenty minutes ago and all he could think about was that man for the other night. The incident at the shrine was also floating around some where in his mind but it was that Inuyasha guy that stuck out.

Hojo couldn't help but think about him. Everything from the silver hair to his claws and fangs. Not to mention his ears. Little tiny silver dog ears that sat on his head almost hidden by his unnaturally colored haired. Inuyasha was currently a complete mystery.

Such a mystery that hearing the school bell had never sounded so good in his life. Gathering his belongings he rushed out the class room and to the nearest exit. Maybe he could get some answers from Kagome, She had managed to make it to school today so maybe he'd get lucky.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Inuyasha you don't look so good." Shippo said as he examined the dark circles under the half demons eyes, jumping back just in time as the older male sneezed. "Maybe you should go back to bed."

Inuyasha growled at the child and swatted him away. He was fine, it was just cold and he was tired. It was nothing big. Of course he wouldn't have been lacking sleep if that strange kid from Kagome's era hadn't been popping up into his head randomly. It was like almost anything reminded him of the guy. When he was out with the villagers at the river fishing he found himself comparing The dim-wittedness of the fish to him. And when he was talking to some old woman earlier, she had said something smiled at him and in some seriously screwed up way it reminded him of Hojo's smile. It could have been the kindness or the nurturing nature behind it. But it resembled that boys smile and that was all he could think about.

The thoughts of the other male stuck to his mind like some kind of strong glue and no matter how hard he tried to think of something else it would wind back up where he started.

It started out just wondering how the kid was doing after leaving him at his home. Then as the hours past it progress and soon he was wondering about the way he lived, what the boy thought about him and what he would do if he knew about what he was and the time he came from. Soon he started worrying about the guys well being.

He was tempted to go and check up on him, but the fact that he went to school with Kagome. . .he quickly dismissed the idea. If Kagome saw him in her time after strictly telling him not to go through the well she'd sit him without a second thought. Then again, Maybe if he stayed out of sight or explained to her. No that was another bad idea, how would he explain that to her? She wouldn't believe him. _'this is irritating, why him of all people, I have much more impotant things to worry about like. . .finding jewels. . . or finding a way to get Kagome to stop going home so often. Stupid girl thinks it's a game. . .to worried about getting her little human friend to help her with a bunch of numbers then helping us fix something that she broke in the first place.' _Inuyasha complained inside his head sneezing again.

Miroku out of the small hut the shared and walked over to Inuyasha clearing his throat in the process. He waited for Inuyasha to look up before speaking. "Inuyasha, I wouldn't be asking you this on regular circumstances but in our current situation I find it-"

"Spit it out monk!" Inuyasha snapped at Miroku who started ranting out some form of before hand apology.

"Right, sorry." The dark haired male sighed and sat down in front of his friend his staff placed across his lap. "what is troubling you?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the other and crossed his arms defensively. "What makes you think anything is wrong?"

"Maybe because you didn't sleep well last night, you were out till it rained and not to mention you were mumbling in your sleep." Shippou commented earning a growl from the older demon.

Miroku grabbed the small fox child and pulled him out Inuyasha's reach. "Is this true Inuyasha? When did you get back in?"

"I don't know. . . what are you my mother? Do I have a curfew now?" He growled at the monk.

"It was almost dawn I heard the birds chirping." Shippou whispered to Miroku Keeping away from the clawed hands that were currently swiping at him.

"What would keep you out that late?" Miroku asked curiously. Since when did Inuyasha stay out later then he had to? Especially that late.

"Stupid little" Inuyasha's face took on a fierce glare that was immediately directed to the small. "I was just...I had a lot on my mind that's all."

"Is this about Kagome leaving again?" Shippou asked as he hopped away from Miroku and in front of Inuyasha looking back up at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha took a swing at the small fox, "This isn't about Kagome!" Why did they always have to bring Kagome into his issues?

Okay sure maybe it was her most of the time, but not every little thing that went through his head had to do with her. Couldn't they think about something else to pin his irritation on, Maybe like the sun being to bright or the fact they hadn't found any jewel shards in weeks! Hell what about the fact that the new moon was right around the corner! Anything, anything at all would have sufficed.

"So there is something wrong." Miroku said crossing his arms. "Inuyasha distractions like this could get you killed in battle."

"Get off my back Miroku!" Inuyasha growled out in a warning. "It's none of your business anyway!"

"It is if it can get us all killed." He stated firmly, his tone challenging the half demon.

Inuyasha Stood up angrily. "Yeah figures, always worried about your self!" the half breed snapped, turning his back to Miroku. "I'm going to go get Kagome, and when I get back I don't want want to hear anymore questions!" He yelled, taking off before they could ask anymore questions..

Miroku and Shippou stood there slightly confused by their friends words.

"Hey Miroku?"

"Yes, Shippou?"

"Do you think he met with Priestess Kikyo again?"

"No. I think Inuyasha has something else on his mind. Although I can't say what. . .he got pretty defensive though. . ." Miroku said picking up the boy and sighing dramatically. "Come on let's go find Sango."

***************************************************

"Hello Kagome!"

The girl turned around and seeing Hojo she gave a smile and waved. "Hey Hojo I was looking for you. I need help in math again. They started a new subject while I was gone so.. . "

"Of course, Kagome. How is your friend by the way?"

"Friend?" she asked looking at him praying that he wasn't talking about who she thought he was talking about.

The male nodded and adjusted his school bag on his shoulder. "Yes that Inuyasha guy. Is he doing ok, " He asked calmly, which was a little weird to Kagome, since you know you, seeing a half demon wasn't really an everyday occurrence.

Kagome took a deep breath to keep herself from screaming in rage ". . .he's . . .fine..." She said slowly secretly hiding her anger. _'Inuyasha your so dead when I see you!!'_

"Great, that's good to know! He was sort of an odd one though. . ." He said trailing off, Playing dumb was one of his talents. If he kept up his ignorance act maybe he could get at least a little bit of information on the man.

"Oh Yeah, He's always like that, I'm sorry if he was mean to you, He kind of anti-social. rough childhood and all." She said starting to ramble

"Oh really, how sad."

"Yeah his father past away when he was young and he doesn't really trust people so much. . .he's a little rough around the edges." She said laughing nervously.

Hojo gave a sympathetic look and nodded. "I see. So were are we studying this time, the library or your house?"

"Um. . .I think my mother was baking something earlier." Kagome said suggesting that they go to her house.

"Excellent! Let's get going then!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

As soon as they walked threw the front door, the sent of sent of chocolate hit their noses. "Mmm. . .chocolate"

Kagome followed her nose to the kitchen and the sight made her eyes widen. "Mom how much did you make!"

Miss Higurashi turned around, smiling. "Go ahead and help your self. There was a bake sale earlier but I made then I got carried away and well, there's plenty left over! Oh hello Hojo dear, you go ahead and eat as much as you like."

"Kagome! Kagome, ah there you are child, where have you been!"

"I was at School like normal people." Her grandfather mumbled something about more important things before he started shoving her back out the kitchen door. "Grandpa!"

"You have a guest! he's up in your room." He said calmly and stood in the kitchen door way. " He's being stubborn, Go see what he wants. "

Kagome paused a moment before telling Hojo to wait in the Kitchen before running up to her room. 'He's so dead!'

'Heh. . .heh that'll teach that monster. . ." the old man mumbled, obviously pleased with himself and went back to sitting at the table and reading a small book on folklore.

The woman watched as her father pushed her daughter out of the room and shook her head, and looking a little too happy. Sighing she grabbed The yellow worn out bag off the kitchen table. If she knew her daughter she would be leaving as soon as Hojo left. So why not pack now.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hojo sat down in one of the wooden chairs patiently waiting for the girl to comeback down. He looked around the kitchen, his eyes skimming over all the baked goods, cookies, cake, chocolate covered berries, different pastries and some things he didn't know the name of.

The older woman was going through her cabinets and refrigerated making a mental list. "Hmm. . .looks like I'm out of some things. . .dad, I'm going to the store, will you make sure Souta does his homework?"

"Yes. Yes just don't toddle. I have things to do."

"Of course." the woman said nonchalantly as she grabbed her things and left hurriedly.

Hojo took a small bite out of a cookie, still waiting patiently. Suddenly he heard a loud crash and stood up from his chair ready to run upstairs and help his friend.

"No Need to be alarmed child, sit down." he old man said not looing away from his book.

"But. . ."

"It's only Kagome and Inuyasha having another quarrel. She has probably used her subjection spell. . .but if she keeps at it the ceiling might come through!" the old man added as he heard another series of repeated thumps.

"So she has a power over him? But how-"

The old man grinned "Hojo, how much do you know about evil spirits and demon?"

"Demons?" Hojo asked feeling slightly uneasy. Kagome had said that her grandfather was a little eccentric when it came to the topic of myths but this was his first time witnessing it and with all honesty, it was a bit awkward.

"Yes, demons."

"They are usually depicted as the villains in myths and folklore."

"Wrong!" The man yelled smacking the boy in the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"Ow!" the teen yelp in pain rubbing his sore head. There was definitely something wrong with this old man.

The elderly man sat back in his chair but leaned on the table and lowering his voice for effect. "Demons are as real as it gets, Sharp fangs, pointy ears, claws for nails and glowing eyes. Some spit acid and some breath fire, some shift into different creatures and some can even look human. The only thing they have in common is there unquenchable thirst for blood!"

Hojo gulped dropping his cookie back on to the table. "You mean they actually exist?"

Grandpa Higurashi Nodded. "Yes and Inuyasha is one of the most malicious blood thirsty murderous beasts that ever lived!"

"I know your not talking about me old man!" a gruff voice came from the doorway of the kitchen. Kagome walking in past him.

"Inuyasha what a pleasant surprise!" The old man laughed scratching the back of his head, playing ignorant to the fact he was just practically calling the half demon a monster.

"Grandpa! Look what you did! You frightened Hojo!" Kagome scolded her grandfather, glaring at him angrily.

Hojo looked over at Inuyasha warily, observing him. He did look human enough except for the fangs and the sharper then normal nails. . .and the canine like growl that he was directing towards the old man, But even if he did look angry, he certainly wasn't giving off any homicidal vibes and why was he wearing a hat? The boy already knew about the ears.

Hojo stood up and walked over to the silver hair man, standing in front of him he gave the man a stern look.

One of Inuyasha's eyes twitched in annoyance at the closeness. What was it with the people from this time, were they all this rude? Or was it just the people Kagome hung out with. "Can I help you?" he growled out.

Hojo backed off slightly at the aggressiveness, but still remain in Inuyasha's personal space. He curiously tilted his head a bit. "You don't seem too dangerous."

Inuyasha gave an arrogant grin, baring his fangs and leaned closer to the boys face. "Do you want to test that theory kid?"

"SIT!" Kagome yelled watching as the beads sent the man to the floor and missing the surprise that graced her schoolmates face. "Inuyasha don't threaten Hojo!"

Hojo cringed as he looked down at the groaning demon. 'That must be painful. . .' he thought, kneeling down in front of Inuyasha, "Are you alright?" He looked at the hat for a moment before reaching for it.

"Ah! No!" Kagome screamed reaching out to stop the boy, unfortunately it was a little to late, the hat was off and Hojo was touching the mans ear's.

There was an incoherent shout from the half demon before he shot up and held his hands over his ears. "What is it with you humans and my ears!"

"Sorry. . ." Hojo mumbled, blushing in embarrassment. He just couldn't help himself, they were just so tempting sitting there twitching with every sound and swerving slightly to locate unheard noises. . . Not that he would say that out loud.

"You should be. . ." He mumbled back, suddenly losing his will to yell at the boy as he look him over for any signs of harm. _'Atleast now that I know he's fine, I can go back home and get some decent rest. ' _He thought. What was he so worried about the boy for anyway, it's not like there were demons in this world that would try to eat him for lunch._ 'this kid's a pain in the ass.'_

Hojo fidgeted under the mans stare, he couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable. He couldn't tell weather the gaze was a good thing or a bad thing.

Kagome looked between the two unsurely. She couldn't really tell what was going on, one minute Inuyasha was trying to bite Hojo's head off the next he was looking over him in a worried, mother hen fashion. She shook her head and turned to her classmate. "You seem to be taking this pretty well Hojo. . ." she said, trying to start a conversation.

Hojo quickly looked over at Kagome, "Oh yes, well, when I was younger there was a small incident . . .in the long run I decided to keep an open mind."

" What happened?"

The boy's face turned pale and he adverted his eyes to the floor scratching the back of his neck. "I'd rather not discuss it, if you don't mind."

Kagome nodded. "It's fine." she said, however she was still curious about what had happened. _'Must of been horrible if he's turning white.'_

"Kagome shouldn't we start studying? I'm pretty sure you would like to spend time with your friend before the day is out. . ."

"Oh right I almost forgot!" She shouted running out of the room only to rush back in to grab her bag and lifting it off the counter having to use more force then she remembered having to use earlier. "Inuyasha you stay down here with Grandpa, and grandpa don't give Inuyasha a hard time.

"Why should I have to stay with the old man!" The dog eared male shouted after the girl who purposefully ignored his comment as she ran up the stairs.

"Who are you calling old you half breed?"

"Are you trying to pick a fight _old _man?"Inuyasha growled at him

The man didn't say a word but he did throw slips of paper at the silver haired male and started chanting. Inuyasha back away pulling the useless strips of paper off and ended up trying to avoid the old man's annoying presence for the next three hours.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Good-bye Hojo! Inuyasha make sure he get's home okay!" Kagome yelled from the door.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth as he walked next to a cheery looking Hojo. Apparently the human didn't see the problem with wasting his valuable time. He could have been back in his own time hunting down jewel shards and finding a way to kill Naraku, not walking a man to his home. Besides wasn't this something a man usually did for a woman to let them know that the man cared? He might have worried about this boys safety, but he was nowhere near the point of wanting to walk him home.

Even if he did he wouldn't tell anybody any he certainly wouldn't act on it. It had to have been strange to see a guy walking another guy home. Even if one of them didn't look like he could protect himself. He glanced over at the boy, who was practically clueless staring off into space with a blank look.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Are you waiting to see how long it takes you to run into something or do you always stare off into the abyss of lights?"

Hojo blinked and glance at Inuyasha, smiling. "Sorry, what was that?"

". . .?" Was this guy for real or was he being a smart-ass? Inuyasha couldn't tell but it didn't change the fact that both answers pissed him off immensely. "were you seriously not paying attention?!"

Hojo looked at the half demon guiltily and adverted his eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry I've just had a lot on my mind recently. Not to mention with the news from earlier, it a lot to take in. . .a lot to figure out. . ."

Inuyasha listened as the boy trailed off. The human did have a point. The people in this time didn't believe or were unaware of the existence of demons and all of a sudden finding out some one you knew had one has a friend and then seeing that demon for yourself. It probably didn't help with the old mans stories and Inuyasha himself threatening him.

That wasn't the point though the kid was just so ignorant to the dangers around him. No wonder Kagome wanted him to walk the boy home. Shaking his head and giving a small growl Inuyasha spoke. "Just don't let it happen again, I'm not going to be held responsible if Kagome finds out you were injured under my watch."

"Right, sorry. Thank you for walking me home, by the way."

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't thank me yet kid were not even there.'

Hojo smiled and gave a small laugh of his own, "I know but I might forget by then and besides I really do appreciate this."

Inuyasha didn't respond, but maybe he would let the boys careless behavior slide, just this once. It wasn't often stranger showed their gratitude to him. Not when it was just him anyway. It was always that look of fear and confusion of why a monster was helping them. Kagome usually wondered why Inuyasha rarely helped people on his own. It was because they rarely grateful about it.

"You know you really don't have to walk me all the way home, I'm sure Kagome won't be to mad with you if you ju-

"Trust me, I'd rather walk you home without an argument then face days of a snooty attitude from Kagome." Inuyasha grumbled not bothering to cover up his annoyance.

Hojo looked to the ground again, feeling guilty about having the man go out of his way. "Sorry. I could talk to her if you want."

"Wouldn't do any good. She'd just have me follow you . Look kid it's not that big of a deal." the half demon said watching the other boy look at him with that disbelieving look. "What?"

"We both know you don't want to walk me home, that's already been talked about. You don't have to lie about it. I already know your going out of your way." The younger male stated as he moved his bag from one arm to the other.

Inuyasha resisted an annoyed growl that he felt starting. "okay, fine in that case, hurry it up your walking to slow and I have more important things to do then worry about your well being." Inuyasha snapped and sped up, listening to the human boy trying to keep up. He smirked noticing the boy was having a hard time following, maybe this would teach the kid to just keep his mouth shut. "I told you to speed it up. Come on, Kagome could do better then that." He jeered, maybe if he was lucky he would see the boy get angry.

Hojo, didn't know exactly what had happened. One minute they were talking about the situation the next Inuyasha was rushing ahead of him telling him tht he was too slow and out of shape. He knew for a fact he wasn't out of shape, he made sure of that. Maybe it was just in the demons nature to tease people in such a manner. He inwardly sighed and attempted to keep up with the other. Maybe if he did Inuyasha would respect him a bit more.

------

Finally they reached Hojo's house, Inuyasha stood there in all his non human glory while Hojo lent against his door panting for breath. Inuyasha himself was impressed with the teens determination. What started out as small joke ended up in a game of keep up with the demon, which was difficult seeing as Inuyasha jumped around more then he ran. Hojo had tried to catch him once or twice hoping to at least get him to stop jumping to the roofs of building and to stop scaring him from behind. Inuyasha was really impressed that the human didn't once complain about the whole thing. It made him feel bad that he caused him to strain himself. Then again it wasn't his fault, the human could have stood his ground and walked at a normal pace, It wasn't like he was twisting the kids arm or anything.

Hojo managed to catch his breath and face Inuyasha, surprising him with a real smile. "Thank you Inuyasha. . .Can't say that it was a boring walk home."

Inuyasha scoffed and turned his back to him. "Don't expect me to be in such a good mood all the time. Next time I might really leave you in the middle of nowhere."

The teen held in a laugh. "Of course Inuyasha, tell Kagome I said good night."

"Yeah whatever."

Hojo watched the strange demon run off. The silver and red flash was gone within second. It was only when he was inside his home, in his pajama's and sitting comfortably nestled under his soft light blue blanket on his couch watching tv that he remembered. He forgot to bring up the flashing light. For a few minutes he was angry with himself, how could he have forgotten about such a thing.

Well at least he got the biggest of his curiosity answer. He knew why Inuyasha had dog ears. He could worry about the mysterious flashing light another time.

* * *

Hope it was decent enough to read. I know it's probably rushed and filled with errors. But I wanted to get it done quickly. If anyone is still reading this let me know. Also I think I might just change the title. . .if I ever think of one. . .


	4. Thinking

_**I honestly stopped writing to this because I didn't think anyone was reading it, but I actually saw a review when I checked my older email acount, I was surprised. But As long as there someone reading I guess it's only fair to keeping going, right? So here is Chapter four. It's a little short and Inuyasha is out of character a bit, but I did try to keep him in character as much as possible. **_

_**disclaimer: I don't own IY**_

_**Chapter 4: Thinking**_

* * *

A days flew by, soon enough a month and a half had past and snow was finally falling. Of course Kagome already knew there was snow coming because of Inuyasha. He either had a really good nose or was just good with predicting weather, either way she was happy with it. She was her usual busy self, balancing her school life, social life, and her adventures trying to help the group in anyway she could, when she could.

Even though she was busy and wrapped up in her hazardous life she wasn't unaware of the shift in the air whenever Inuyasha was around. It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't good. He seemed a little off. He was less rowdy, he had got to the point where retaliating against someone's hurtful words was rare. He would usually brush them off like they were nothing, instead of getting in the aggressors face like he normally would. He also stop complaining as much, He didn't refuse when some one told him to do something, he actually would get up with out a word and carry out the task. However a simple task like fetching water , that would only take five minutes for a demon took two hours. What could have he been doing for two hours? Another thing was his bathing habits. He bathed more frequently and longer. Sometime he would go out for a bath and when he would return either his hands would be wrinkly or he would be completely dry. Then there was the fact that he seemed a little spaced out, not necessarily distant, but more detached from reality. He'd stare off for a long while. Sometimes he'd frown and sometimes he'd get a look of curiosity.

She didn't know what was going on with her friend but she wasn't the only one that noticed. He had stopped picking on Shippo, who would steal his food pull his ears, call him names, but the most he had gotten was whacked off Inuyasha's shoulder.

Sango had also noticed a change in his fighting habits. Where he usually rushed into a fight excited or angry he seemed less interested in it. Using only just enough strength to finish off the opponent the he would ask if there was a shard or not, if there was he'd get excited if not he'd be only a tad bit irritated then he'd go back to thinking. It was odd enough for the man not to be cranky or aggressive but thinking was never something the half demon did diligently.

What really had Kagome worried was when Miroku would comeback from the bath earlier then Inuyasha and tell them of his behavior. Usually he could get the demon to speak up and tell him what was going on in his mind, or at least argue over something. However as soon as they got in the springs Inuyasha would lean against a rocks and either take a nap or stare of into space a nod occasionally, if Miroku was lucky.

All in all, There was something going on with Inuyasha and the man seemed to be keeping tight lipped about it. Maybe he was just worried about Hojo again. He had been asking about him a while ago. Maybe that's what his problem was. 'That's it! Maybe Hojo could . . .no Inuyasha barley knows him. . ., but maybe that's what he need, somebody who opinion doesn't really matter. '

Kagome fought with her self for a little while before deciding on getting Inuyasha to walk Hojo home again.

She smiled to herself and rushed out of her room to pack for the feudal era.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Inuyasha Stared up at the cloudy sky. He didn't know what was wrong with him, it wasn't like him to think this much but he couldn't help. He thought about everything and anything that came across his mind. He had thought about that Hojo kid from Kagome's time, He had thought about the future fight with Naraku, the jewel shards, his friends and even what he was going to do if he survived the battle with Naraku. Everything that passed through his mind stuck there for hours until he could resolve what ever problem he came across. Except for one. The thoughts about that human boy popped up often, to often for Inuyasha liking.

He wanted to go back and talk to him again, see how he was doing. He would even be satisfied just going and spying on him for a for minutes. Although that was a too stalker-like for him. But he couldn't just show up and expect the boy to talk to him. They had only met twice and it would be a little strange to climb through the kids window in the middle of the night. Sure he'd done it to Kagome countless times but, he knew her, and even when they first started there journey He had reasons. But this Hojo guy wasn't involved with the Jewel, he was just another 'normal' guy from Kagome's time.

He had asked Kagome about him a few times, but she kept giving him those suspicious looks, and kept asking if the two were getting along or if they had become friend. So he stopped asking. He didn't notice his behavior was changing until Miroku pointed out that everyone else had. He just shrugged it off saying it was nothing. He started taking on some off the chores because he cold think while he did them. He liked getting water from the river because it gave him some alone time. He could sit by the water and think without being distracted by Kagome's nagging or Miroku's prying. Sango never bothered him much but lately she had been questioning him about his fighting. Shippou would occasionally try to follow him around and spy on him. It might have worked if the small fox had been a little more careful. The kid was so noisy Inuyasha didn't know whether to laugh or yell. So he did neither.

Instead he ignored him, he ignored everyone most of the time. Maybe if they had something other then 'are you feeling alright?' or 'Is something wrong?' to ask once in a while he would answer them.

Sighing the half demon stood up grabbing the bucket of water that was sitting next to him and headed back to the Kaede's. for once the old woman was the one who had been keeping her mouth shut. It probably meant she already had a feeling of what was going on. He was jst happy she hadn't spoke up yet. But good things never last too long. He knew she would talk soon, he just hoped it wouldn't be too soon.

--------

Getting back to the hut, Inuyasha walked in, surprised to see Kagome there talking to Sango excitedly about. . .well he was sure. He looked at Miroku for an answer but only got a negative shake of the head. Seeing that no one else but them were talking he assumed it was 'Girl talk', as Kagome called it.

Setting the bucket down in front of the old woman, He heard the two girls giggle and talk a bit more. Resisting an urge to yell about the hushed whispering he took a seat in the corner and stared at the door. If the girls wanted to talk privately why didn't they go find a quiet spot outside somewhere. Didn't Kagome say it was rude to whisper with company around, so what was with the hypocrisy? Maybe it was only rude if a guy whispers, since the girls seemed to do it quiet often.

"Hey Inuyasha?" the monk asked, starting up a whispered conversation of their own. He sounded serious, which meant that he was being serious, and the meant he was going to ask Inuyasha a question, again.

The silver haired man didn't answer verbally but turned his head slightly to acknowledge the human next to him.

"May I ask you something?" Miroku asked slowly, trying to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to anger his friend, and Inuyasha had been bottling up anger, which wasn't a good sign.

Inuyasha hesitated but, nodded. He expected to be questioned when he came back from the river. He always was. The questions where sometimes worded differently, but they always meant they same thing, 'What's bothering you.'. Yes, the questions annoyed him, and a month ago he would have snapped at them, told them off and left for a while. Currently however he seemed calmer, like he didn't have the energy to cause a scene, but he was fine with it.

Miroku looked at his friend. Taking in the calm but slightly annoyed look in the other man's eyes. "I'm not going to ask if your alright, the answer to that is obvious. I just need to know something. . ." He said, waiting for Inuyasha to look at him, which he eventually did. This brought Inuyasha out of his thoughts and the annoyance was replaced by a questioning stare.

"What is it?" He asked mumbled, his words where slightly slurred from a lack of sleep, He was trying to keep his voice low enough to keep his word from Kagome and Sango but high enough for Miroku to hear. He doubted Miroku actually heard him but the dark haired man went ahead anyway.

"Do you know why your acting like this? You don't have to tell me , just tell me if you know why."

Inuyasha looked away from Miroku, he didn't want to discuss it at all. He knew the Naraku thing was on everyone's minds, and the thoughts about the kid from Kagome's home was something that he felt he shouldn't discuss. At least not when he couldn't understand it himself. Why should he have someone else solve his problems, he didn't need them trying to pry everything out of him. Shrugging, he looked at the floor and rplied . "It's hard to explain. I've just been thinking a lot more then usual, I'm just not sure why I'm thinking so much about everything. "

Miroku nodded, he was now almost positive that Inuyasha was thinking about Naraku, He was just as sure that Inuyasha was hiding something. What he was hiding however, he wouldn't be able to ask the half demon about without Inuyasha catching him being nosy. "Alright I'll except that answer but, if it was anything important, something serious you would tell right? If you needed help you would ask?"

"You can't help me with this. It would be impossible. " He said, sounding tired. He was obviously exhausted about what ever was stuck in his mind, or maybe he was becoming depressed.

"that's understandable. But we're all here if you need to talk"

Inuyasha snorted and gave the other a smirk "With open arms right?" he asked jokingly, sounding grateful. But really, he was a little unhappy, and a bit angry. He only wanted to talk to one person right now but if the boy was in front of him he had no idea what he would say.

Miroku gave his own amused look. "Of course, but I'd much rather a beautiful maiden cry on my shoulder then a grown man." He joked back, smiling when Inuyasha rolled his eyes and mumbled something about him being a pervert. He was just happy Inuyasha hadn't gone of the deep end.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Hojo?"

The teen looked up from his homework, "Yes? What is it mother?" he asked seeing his mom peaking in his room. It wasn't unusual for her to check in on him during the nights she had off, she had always peaked in his room since he was younger. She had always been over protective and worried constantly. Working at a hospital made her extra aware of how quick your health could go from perfect to being hospitalized in a matter of seconds.

"That friend of yours is on the phone. . .Ka. . .Kagome I believe. Do you want to talk?" She ask hesitantly when she saw her son looking over his school books. She was proud that he put so much effort into school and got top grades, but she also wondered if he socialized enough with his peers. She only remembered Kagome and maybe two other kids that called, and it was always about school.

"Kagome? Calling at this hour? " Hojo was confused. What was so important that Kagome was sacrificing sleep in favor of calling him? Getting up he closed his book and followed his mother down the hall and down the stairs. He picked up the phone glancing at the clock. 'one forty-seven. It's later then I thought it was.'

The phone reached his ears and he heard a familiar yawn coming from the other end, he smiled to himself. "Studying hard?" he asked, amused. He knew she was studying, she had been studying for there exams everyday for the passed few weeks.

"Oh, sorry. . ." She said, laughing it off. "Um. . .listen Hojo can you do me a huge favor?"

Hojo was surprised , He was pretty sure Kagome knew all the material by now, He had tutored her for a good few months. What could she possibly need help in now? "Kagome don't tell me you forgot everything that quickly? I was so sure y-"

"No, No. It's nothing like that, it actually about. . .Inuyasha."

Hojo blinked a few times, he was confused now. "Inuyasha? Kagome, considering his. . .um. . .situation, I don't think He needs to study. . ." He said carefully remembering his mother wasn't to far away. He heard Kagome giggle on the other line, he how ever didn't see what was funny. He was pretty sure demons didn't go to school. Besides that Inuyasha didn't seem like the type that would go to school, even if he could.

"Hojo, I wasn't talking about studying" She started after she was done laughing. "You see, Inuyasha's been a little. . .of recently. His mind keeps wandering, He hasn't even started an argument with me for days, and he disappears for hours at a time and. . .It's just unusual for him to do that, so. . ."

Hojo, listened to his friend carefully as she went on about Inuyasha's odd behavior. She seemed very worried about her demon friend, "Excuse me Kagome?" He politely interrupted her, taking a seat at the dining room table. "What Could I possibly do about that? I mean, I barely know him, and I'm not a mind reader."

"Just talk to him, see if you can figure out what's bothering him. He won't tell any of us and we're getting really worried about him, I thought maybe Inuyasha would talk to somebody who was basically a stranger. You know like a counselor."

Us? Who was us, how many people did Kagome and Inuyasha know. It wasn't like Kagome really knew anyone at school, and Inuyasha rarely went out in public let alone their school. "Inuyasha doesn't seem like the type to spills his guts to a stranger Kagome. " 'or any one for that matter' He added in his mind as he remembered the mans rough personality. Inuyasha really didn't seem like the type to voice his problems to other, not many guys were, and he wasn't to sure about what demons did when faced with a inner problems.

"Can you at least try? Please, Hojo!"

Sighing Hojo mumbled out an agreement. "I'll see what can do" He never could resist a cry for help. Which in this case would be considered a curse. How was he supposed to get information like that out of the other man. Inuyasha was really the talkative type he was also easily irritated, quick to anger, had a slightly overbearing demeanor and . . . If he was going to be honest with him self, the older male was a little intimidating to be around.

It wasn't that he thought the demon was going to kill him, He was actually a nice person, if you could get passed his bad traits. Hojo could explain why Inuyasha's presence was intimidating. Maybe intimidating wasn't the right word after all, it seemed to harsh to use now that he thought about it, it was just the only word he could think of for now.

He listened patiently as Kagome set everything up and gave him a time. He quickly told her good night and hung up the phone, immediately after the click of the phone sounded his mother made her way into the room. "What does she need help with now? Math or History?"

Hojo could have laughed at his mothers tone, she sounded amused but he could here the bitterness that was under it. His mother always tried to be a good person. But she was only human, and all people came with there own flukes. His mother was overprotective and could be a little condescending when it came to him.

"Actaully mother, a friend of ours is acting a little off recently, she just wanted to know if I could get anything out of him. Everyone's worried." Yes, he lied, Inuyasha wasn't exactly a friend. But he hadn't lied about the situation at least.

The woman's attitude change quickly and she looked at her son surprised. "Oh, so Kagome needs help with this other friend of yours? What this other friends name, Is he new around here? You've never mentioned him before"

For the next half hour Hojo, answered every question his mother threw at him a smile. Maybe some people would think their parents were annoying for acting like this, but hojo enjoyed it. He rarely got to see his mother, because of her job they could never really talk, so when she acted this way, he knew she cared.

He just wished she'd wait till morning

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Kagome hung up her phone and plopped on her bed with a yawn. She thought about it for a while, maybe she should get Inuyasha to do a bit more then just walk hojo home, maybe he should get Inuyasha to follow Hojo somewhere, like the park or she could send them both out to do a little shopping pick a few things from one store and a few more thing from another store. Hopefully give Hojo enough time to get something out of Inuyasha. But if Inuyasha caught on and found out and got mad would he take it out on Hojo?

Maybe verbally. But Inuyasha's words sometimes hurt very badly. Kagome had been on the receiving end dozens of times. The half demon had a way of saying just the right things to get you away from him if he didn't want you around.

Sighing she turned over and burried her face In her pillow. Maybe she wasn't right for butting into Inuyasha's personal issues, but isn't that what friends did? You know, they notice something is wrong with you and then they go to any length to find out what it is then try to help you through it.

Okay Maybe that was too much like a sitcom off the tellivision but she wanted to know what was going on in her friends mind and she wanted to help him. She had never seen him act like this before. She had talking to Miroku before she left he had assured her that Inuyasha was fine and could work himself through his problems. She believed him, Inuyasha was a big boy, he could take care of himself.

'But still. . .'

* * *

_**It's a little short, but I haven't been writing much lately so I'm a bit lazy when it comes to actually typing my story ideas out, but I hope it's enough to satisfy whoever is reading till the next chapter comes out. Hopefully soon. . . as long as there is at least one person aware of this stories existence. . .**_


	5. Escape

**Sorry for the long wait for the update! I've been busy babysitting and working on other things that sadly have nothing to do with fanfiction. . . but like I said I am determined to see this through as long as some one is reading. **

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. . .If I did there would be a lot of changes. . .obviously. . ._**

**_Chapter 5: Escape_**

* * *

  
Hojo looked over at the silver haired male. How was he supposed to get ay type of information out of the taller man, especially when he looked so irritated. Not that he didn't always look so irritated, he looked that way when they first met those couple moths ago. He had scowled and snapped at him the whole time, but he had stuck to his word and saw to it that he had gotten home safely.

Even when he had gone into the small store, in hopes the man would get frustrated enough to abandon his mission and go back home. However when he came out of the store Inuyasha stood there, looking like he wanted to kill him. Of course he just smiled at him and handed Inuyasha a peace offering. It wasn't a nice thing to do, leaving the man out there all that time for really no reason, he just really didn't want the man following him home.

But he was glad he did, even if he was grouchy and a little arrogant. He was glad to have met him.

"What are you looking at?"

Hojo blushed and looked down embarrassed, "Sorry, I just got lost thinking. "

"Well I hope you were thinking about where we have to go next! It's not like I know my way around this place, and I'm not getting lost because of your empty head." Inuyasha snapped irritated. This was probably the reason why he was always worried about the kid when he was back home. every time he seen him he was spacing out and if this era was as dangerous as Kagome said it was then this friend of hers could easily get killed.

Smiling, Hojo pulled a list out of his pocket and read over it. "We'll have to go to a couple places, before the next trip home." he mumbled his smile waning slightly. _'kagome said she'd find a way for us to talk, not run her monthly errands in a day. Guess I should start with simple questions. . .' _" So. . . Inuyasha, mind if I ask you something?"

The silver haired man looked down at the guy, "What?"

"Before you I've never seen any demons around here so where are you from, exactly?"Hojo inquired, honestly. This was an actual question that he had pondered over since he had last seen the other male. He found the other amazing. He had never met anyone like him before. Not that you met demons everyday.

Inuyasha gave the a confused looked. "Didn't Kagome tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Didn't she tell you about the Feudal era. . .the Sacred Jewel?. . . Naraku? Anything?!" He asked receiving a negative shake of the head for each one. He thought that she would have told the kid about everything by now. That the guy would have questioned her about where he came from and she would have to go and explain everything because of his curious human nature. "Did she tell you anything about me?"

"She said that you have very bad manners, we treated badly as a child and that you fight with your brother, because he despises you being born. "

Inuyasha's eye twitched in irritation. "She can't tell you anything important but she can get into my family history?!" He shouted to no one, making a few bystanders stare, only serving to irritate him more.

Hojo gave him a small sympathetic smile. "How about we stop for lunch and you can explain everything. " He said calmly. Maybe if the demon could tell him about what was going on in the part of Inuyasha and Kagome's life that he was so un aware of, maybe he could piece everything together. "Sound good?"

The half demon thought on it for a minute before nodding. "Yeah "

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The two sat at the back of a small restaurant, to reduce the likely-hood of anyone eavesdropping on the conversation. Not that anyone was trying to get near them with the silent attitude and glares Inuyasha was giving anyone who so much as looked at them wrong.

"Okay, so start from the beginning. "

Start from the beginning? It was obvious the boy didn't know what he was asking for. They'd be here for hours if he had to tell the story again. That and there was the fact that he really didn't feel like talking about Kikyo again, it would just get back to Kagome and then she'd get even more angry then she was going to get already. "Look, there's really not much to tell. She travels back and forth between this time and my time so she can help us track down the fragments of the Sacred jewel. She the only one that can sense them. It save a lot more time then just running around and slicing up every other demon the comes along. Besides it's her fault it broke anyway"

"Jewel?. . .But aren't you a demon, Isn't it a little wrong to kill your own kind? Wait she travels through time?"

"Not that it really concerns you but I'm only half demon. Besides I thought humans thought all demons were evil blood thirsty savage monster or something. . .And Should the time travel really seem that surprising? After you've seen a demon?" He said not really paying attention to Hojo, as he picked up a napkin dispenser and pulled on out. And another. And another

How many pieces of paper were in the metal box?

Hojo smiled at the odd behavior and held back a laugh, thinking it was better to let the man feed his curiosity. " I don't think you're a blood thirsty monster." Hojo watched the man pause as he was in the middle of pulling another napkin out, and glance up at him from the corner of his eye, questioningly. "I-I just mean that you haven't tried killing me or anything. . .that's all. "

"Hn, You wouldn't be saying that if you lived in my time. You know trusting a strange demon with your life is like a woman trusting her husband with a prostitute. She's can be completely sure he won't have an affair, or have no faith in him. Either way, he'll either cheat or he won't, no matter what the wife thinks. It's all based on whether or not the demon finds you useful." Inuyasha explained, picking a few more napkins from the metal box.

Resting an elbow on the table, he rested his head on his hand. "So your saying that even you could turn against Kagome at any given moment."

"Yes, but I wouldn't do that." Another napkin met it's demise as it flew past the growing pile and onto the floor.

"But you said that you can't trust a demon"

Inuyasha smirked, but still kept his eye's one the object in his hands. "Someone catches on quick."

"Yes. . .But I know you wouldn't betray Kagome"

"What makes think I won't?" Inuyasha asked, still bent over the modern tool. However when a shadow fell over him and a hand reached down to grasp the cursed piece of jewelry he wore, he looked up, Seeing Hojo leaning over him with a playful smile.

Hojo had pulled him self forward, reached over and grabbed the beads around the half demons neck without a second thought and gave a smirk of his own. "Because all she has to do is say one word and you fall flat on your face."

For a second Inuyasha wondered how the boy knew about the beads without Kagome telling him anything about the demons or anything else. After that He wondered why the other's smirk looked a little more playful then it should have.

A clearing of the throat caught their attention, and Hojo fell back into his seat, his smirk being replaced with a bright blush and nervous laughter. Even though he was ignored as the waiter was to busy eyeing the napkin filled table, and giving the older man an odd look. Inuyasha looked over at the source of the noise, seeing a human dressed in a purple and blue 'work' uniform. He let out a rude snort of laughter, the colors and the attitude remind him of a peacock.

The waiter raised an eyebrow. "If I'm interrupting I can come back."

"N-no! It's. . .I mean, I, uh. . .I'll have water for now. . .He'll have . .um. . ."

"That fizzy stuff. . ."

"Uh. . .coke. . .?"

The waiter gave them another condescending look before walking away.

"Jackass." Inuyasha mumbled ripping out the last napkin from the dispenser and went onto ripping open a sugar packet.

"Inuyasha. . ."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After stopping the curious demon from making a sugary mess and being waited on and ordering food, which in Inuyasha's opinion took too long to be served Hojo decide to go back to asking question. "So exactly how does Kagome get to your time?"

"The power from the jewel let's her use the well to. . .travel to my time." Inuyasha said pausing in the middle of his sentence. He wasn't really sure how to answer these kinds of questions. He could answer the ones about the why they need to the jewel shards or who the enemy was, how the jewel was made and the whole situation was. However he couldn't explain the magical mysteries behind the reasons of the jewel allowing Kagome to travel back in time. That was more of the old priestess's thing.

"Well. . .? You mean the one from the shrine? Can things like that really be used for time travel?" Hojo asked with some type of amazement in his voice.

"Kagome does it almost every day. Why are you asking me all this anyway? "

"Well. . .I'm curious. . .and you already said the Kagome wouldn't say anything, so. . ." Trailing off the teen sat back in his chair. He was finding everything hard to believe. It was still difficult to take in that the man before him was a demon. Well half demon, but he had demon blood in him none the less and had traits to prove it. Plus the time traveling by well would explain the mysterious glowing he had seen when he witnessed when he watched Kagome jump into the well those couple months ago. The pieces where starting to fit together. "And she's been missing so much school because she's been helping you find these jewel shards?"

"Yeah. . . What's so important about your schools anyway? Getting that jewel's a lot more important then anything in this time." Inuyasha shout back, deciding to ask a question of his own.

Hojo however was a little shocked by the question, but it was only fair. He him self had probably been annoying the man with his inquiries. So like always he smiled and answered. "In our time, School is a place we go to, to educate ourselves in hopes that we can become successful in the future. Unlike in your time, there's more to learn then just how to successfully grow crops and build houses, in fact we have machines that help us do that work. Like tractors and cranes. This thing-" Hojo paused picking up the Napkin dispenser. "is a simple invention someone came up, it's only function is to hold napkins. "

"Couldn't they come up with something a bit more useful?"

"That's the point Inuyasha, We do. We go to school and learn skills for that purpose. If we get an idea for something, and we want to bring that creation to reality, the things we've learned at school can make that possible. "

". . .Well I don't think Kagome is anywhere near inventing anything. She should be back in the feudal era helping us find the jewel shards. If Naraku gets a hold of the jewel. . ." Inuyasha stopped himself. He did want the kid to know a little about what was going on, just as payback for Kagome talking about his personal life, but as he looked over at the kid, He was starting to think that maybe he should leave some of the other issues out. This kid would never come face to face with Naraku so maybe it was best to leave that part out. Not to even mention his name again. "Don't we have more chores to do?"

The teen looked at the older man suspiciously. The sudden change of topic was odd which only meant that the half demon was keeping something from him. _'but what could that be?'_ he thought, looking down at his meal, and then at the pile of napkins that he had shoved one the other side of the table. "Yeah, we have one more stop at a food store then, Kagomes grandfather needs us to stop and get some things to fix a hole in the shrine. Oh, then Kagome wants us pick up her package from the post office."

"Your modern time 'conveniences' sound more complicated then helpful. "

Hojo laughed, the man had a point, especially since the post office and the hardware store were on completely different ends of town. At least the food store was across the street.

==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"So he just told you it was something that he could handle on his own"

"Yes. Kagome I think He'll be fine, you shouldn't get so worried over things like this. It's probably just. . .We're getting closer to catching Naraku, He's probably just worried about what happens after. . .if there's an after. . ."

Sango nodded at Miroku's idea and decided to throw in her own thoughts "Or perhaps he's worried about the fight it's self. Naraku's strong and Inuyasha's the only one with demon blood and with us being human where not as durable as he is, we could easily get killed. I don't think that us being completely human is something Inuyasha is going to forget. The fact might actually have just made itself known."

"You think that his problem is that he's finally realizing that were human and we might not make it out of the final battle?"

"Maybe he's just starting to mature, you know starting to act like more of an adult then a child."

"He's almost as old as my grandfather, don't you think if he was going to start thinking seriously he would have done it already?"

"Kagome he's only half demon, meaning he doesn't think fully like a demon or grow like one. If he was full demon he'd probably be thinking more like his brother right now, thinking only of his survival and trying to gain more power for selfish reasons. But he grows and thinking only partly like that of a demon, He could be struggling with himself. You said yourself he wanted to be full demon so maybe, he's having an inner battle because his human emotions are getting in the way of his demon nature. " Sango tried explaining the best she could, starting to get confused herself.

Kagome looked back and forth between Miroku and Sango. They had good points, Inuyasha did seem to be getting more into a habit of thinking. Usually getting an irritated look on his face when he did. So maybe it was possible that he was getting frustrated from his inner confusion. Sighing she started going through her bag getting ready to prepare a lunch. "I guess it sounds reasonable. He does become perplexed when it comes to him battling between his demon and human sides."

Smiling Sango started helping her put up a fire, Miroku watched the two girls chatter and started thinking about his friends problems. Miroku knew that Naraku would be the most likely reason for Inuyasha's abnormal behavior, but Miroku had a strong feeling that it was something else, possibly something more complicated then the whole Naraku scenario.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Alright, all that's left is Kagome's package at the post office. . " Hojo said giving Inuyasha a sideways glance. ". . .which is five minutes away from my house. . ."

As expected Inuyasha stopped walked, almost dropping the bags in his hands. "That's all the way back the other way!" He yelled with a hint of a growl behind his voice.

"I know but it's the last thing before were done for the day" He said with what he hoped was a encouraging smile, as he tried to grab a couple of the bags from the Half Demon only to have them snatched back, and be glared at.

Inuyasha, however was immune to his encouragement and started stood still. "Hell no! Kagome can get her own damn package. I am not an errand boy. I should be back home in my time fighting demon and collecting jewel shards, not picking up her junk. "

Hojo sighed. He had been walking in circles with Inuyasha for hours and he hadn't seen any different in his behavior from the last to times he had seen him. He was still short tempered, rude and loud mouthed as ever. He was a little quiet around him at first, but that was expected if he was as inexperienced with people as Kagome said. And it didn't seem like there was anything abnormal. . .well as abnormal as anything could be when you were walking around with a half demon from five hundred years ago. Besides that, he had to agree with the other male, this was ridiculous. They had been all around town walking all morning and he hadn't made one brake through, not when they ate, or when they took the short cut through the park. If they were using a car all this would have been done by now.

Putting a smile back on his face Hojo once again tried to grab a bag. "Inuyasha, Its not that bad is it?" He asked watching for the others reaction.

A scowl appeared on his face. "Of course it's that bad! I'm a dog _demon, _not her whipped puppy that's going to sit when told and beg for treats!" He shouted as low as he could trying to not draw attention, grabbing the bag back with more force then necessary.

Hojo smirked. "Well, the begging for treat's I under stand but you kind of do si-"

"Shut. Up." The older male all but growled. Stomping off in the direction of Kagome's home.

The teen held back his laughter and followed him. Wondering if maybe the dog part of the half demon would actually even want a dog treat.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It didn't take long to reach the Higurashi House-hold. The where greeted by a joyful mother and a little brother who almost sent Inuyasha and the groceries flying back.

"Sota, careful, Inuyasha's carrying groceries!" She said pulling her son away from the taller man who was trying to find his balance. Hojo placed a hand on the half demons back and another on his shoulder to help him out, while the Woman sent her son up stares to get ready for lunch.

She turned to face the two again, watching as Hojo took some of the bags from a very unwilling Inuyasha. She gave them a warm smile. "Welcome back dears, would you like anything? I'm making lunch soon if you want to stay, Hojo!"

"No thank you Ms. Higurashi, We just ate, but a drink would be nice, If it's not to much trouble."

"Certainly." she said rushing off into the kitchen. "You sure you don't want to stay? I know you said you just ate, but Inuyasha will no doubt be hungry again and your still a growing boy yourself." She stated as she came back into the a cup in hand.

Inuyasha, sitting on the couch , listened to the teen talk to the Kagome's mom in his sickeningly polite tone. Inuyasha could have choked the boy. Did he have to be polite to everyone. Even that uptight waiter at that food place they went to, when the guy was clearly being a bastard. And over what exactly it wasn't like they where being noisy or anything, He made sure to not to do anything that Kagome would yell at him for. Well maybe not the napkin thing but still, He didn't take his hat off or start a fight.

Inuyasha replayed the scenario in his head over and over repeatedly trying to find something that could have been considered rude or abnormal. There was the napkins he was pulling out of the napkin holder, the conversation he and Hojo were having and Hojo had been pulling on his necklace being a brat. . .

Pulling on his necklace. Inuyasha blinked as the Image of it played through his mind, trying to figure out why that would have been abnormal, unless the guy thought Hojo was trying to steal it. Or maybe the guy was just normally up tight, and thought they were wasting his time with their nonsense. He really wanted to go back there and punch that guy, He wanted to punch Hojo for being nice to him.

"Where has Kagome gone? She was here before we left."

Hojo's voice caught his attention again, still being polite and sound a little more innocent then he had when the where out walking around. When he was around Kagome and adult's the Kid's attitude seemed to change slightly. He was still the same light hearted dense kid, but when He was around them he was more polite and responsible, when he wasn't he was more like a teen, a bit more playful and. . .he wouldn't call it rude. That boy didn't have a rude bone in his body, but he wasn't so strict about it, he seemed more relaxed.

At his little observation Inuyasha shook his head. Why did he care so much anyway wasn't any of his business if the kid wanted to act like a puppet.

"Oh. . .um . . .Kagome?. .. She went." The women started, trying to think of something on spot. "She's at the. . ."

On any other day she would have said she went to the store or went to do a few errands but Hojo and Inuyasha had done them all. Inuyasha smirked amused as he watched the middle aged woman start to panic. However his amusement didn't last long, He hated to see women looking so miserable. "She probably went back to my time to visit the others."

Kagome's mother looked up shocked, holding her hand to her mouth as if she was the one who said it. "I-Inuyasha!" she gasped sternly, giving him a disapproving look.

"I already told him about the well. " He told her, watching her eye's widen. His only response to this was to shrug. What else could he say, 'Your daughter decided to tell her friend about my family matters so I spilled about the Feudal era.'? No, He wasn't going to admit his immature behavior.

"It's fine Ms. Higurashi. Actually I'm glad he told me." Hojo said with a smile, saving Inuyasha from the woman's small wrath. He could feel the on coming verbal discipline of a mother making itself known and was highly amused. The way Inuyasha had explained demons earlier made it seem like he would have killed a human on spot, but , If he wanted to he could have already done taken this woman's life. Kagome wasn't here, so there wasn't any way for him to be stopped. The other male was obviously more Human then he let on. _'So he really doesn't need that thing. . .'_ He thought quickly looking at the necklace around the half demons neck with loathing.

The woman looked back to the dark haired male, with a questioning look. "Aren't you at least a little worried at the idea of all of that scary information? Or even skeptical ?" she asked curiously.

"Why would I be skeptical. . .or worried. . ." He added the last part giving Inuyasha a suspicious glare, apparently the older male left something out.

The woman looked back and forth between the two figuring out immediately that the silver haired male hadn't really given the teen the whole story, and wished she hadn't opened her mouth. She gave one of her award winning 'mother of the year' smiles and laughed. "Oh, It's just that, with demons being such a common occurance in Inuyasha's time, I get worried. Not that I don't trust Him to protect Kagome, but there's always room for mistakes. And from what They both have said Most demons are not very friendly. But the little one. . .What was his Name Inuyasha dear?"

"Who?"

"The small demon child you travel with?"

"The Brat? Shippo."

"Yes. Shippo. He seems like a sweet child. He drew me picture once, come on I'll show it to you it's in on the fridge. . ." She chattered away, purposely, pushing him towards to the kitchen.

Hojo Followed her, but not before shooting Inuyasha an irate look, telling him without words that he knew Inuyasha hadn't told him everything and that they would be having a conversation about this subject later.

Inuyasha smirked as the boy disappeared into the kitchen. He listened closely as the woman started to go on about Shippo and the others staying clear of mentioning anything about Naraku. He stood up from the couch quietly, and tiptoed across the living room towards the door, pausing for a moment before heading up the stairs. The door would have made too much noise on his way out. Kagome's window would do fine.

_

* * *

_

_Yeah like I said sorry for the long wait. I had a hard time picking up where I left up because of the wait too. I'm definitely going to try to get the next chapter out sooner. Promise, since I'm catching a brake and all. _

_Maybe I'll go start on that other chapter now. . .and get a sentence done before I pass out._ _lol._


	6. Did It Rain?

_I'm a horrible person I know. I don't update for ever. Feel free to murder me. Anyway I've had only small amount of chance to do much. The house is constantly nosy and it's very distracting. i actually stopped working on this chapter a couple times because it got so loud I couldn't think. I've been working on this chapter for about a month or so and I still think I could have done better. _

_Anyway just to let you all know that yes I'm still working on it Here's the worst chapter written so far. . ._

_Disclaimer: No I don't own Inuyasha. If I did there would be a lot of changes and it would probably be more bloody._

_Chapter six: Did It Rain?_

* * *

Hojo couldn't concentrate on his work. He couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Inuyasha and his half-truths. The man hadn't even bothered to give him a full explanation of what was going on, or bothered to tell him why he couldn't tell him.

It was so aggravating to the point that Hojo no longer wanted to even worry about the other male but, at the same time it piqued his interest, Inuyasha himself was a puzzle to him.

Sure he had found out that he was a half demon, lived in another time, somehow managed, with his aggressive and rough personality to befriend someone like Kagome and that he had problems with his brother. However there were things, more perplexing things that intrigued him.

Like why he hid behind false masks of irritation and indifference. Or maybe why he was so closed off to the people around him. Kagome had said that he had been acting strange but he wouldn't tell anyone why. Did he not trust them enough or was he unaware of how out of it he really was.

Although he had seemed fine. By what he could identify as a 'Normal Inuyasha' behavior anyway. Only knowing him for a short amount of time and meeting him only a few times he didn't have much to go by. Though, from what he did know Inuyasha was his same short tempered, impatient self he had been when he first met him. If that was anything to go by.

Hojo had learned something about the guy that day though. The man was curious, and didn't hesitate to indulge in his curiosity. The false snow made of clean discarded napkins was proof of that. The scene must have been a little astounding for someone who didn't know that Inuyasha wasn't from their time. A grown man playing with napkin holders and flinging the contents around carelessly.

The teen smiled remembering the half demon pulling napkins out one by one, flinging them carelessly onto the table till they soon flooded the surface and overflowed onto the floor. Then the necklace had caught his eye. Beads and fangs were strung together and wrapped around the mans neck, courtesy of Kagome and some woman he had never had the pleasure of meeting.

On thing that had bugged him was why he still had it on. No, he knew inuyasha couldn't remove it. That was clearly obvious. Inuyasha didn't seem like the type to keep something like that on his persons if it could be used against him. The half demon would have taken it off ages ago, He wouldn't have let himself be 'sat' by some girl. So, why hadn't Kagome taken it off.

She claimed Inuyasha was harmless, that he wouldn't hurt anyone. She had left the silver haired male unsupervised with him, a sign that she trusted him. If she knew she was safe around the man why hadn't she taken the cursed necklace off.

Maybe to her it was a reminder of how far they had come in their friendship but still, they were just so irritating. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the unfairness of it all, but when he had leaned over a grabbed them, he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to try and rip them off. He had the urge to try and snap them. The only thing that had stopped him was his more Logical side of thinking.

He could still remember the feel of the ancient piece of jewelry. It had even felt suffocating.

=-=-=-=-=-

_Leaning over the table, he hooked his finger through the necklace. The beads wear pretty smooth for the time they were made in and the even though it must have been on the man for quiet some time it didn't look dirty at all. When Inuyasha looked up at him curiously, he couldn't help but smirk. "Because all she has to do is say one word and you fall flat on your face."_

=-=-=-=-=-

He paused for a minute, rewinding his internal VCR and replayed that scene. Leaning over the table, hovering over the other man, a finger hooked in a necklace and invading the man's personal space. Then teasing him about his 'curse.'

Hojo's face started heating up at the memory. 'What was I thinking!' He thought as he hid his head in his arms on his bedroom desk. Inuyasha probably thought that he was a freak. How could he have did that without realizing what he was doing?

The guy had to have been thinking of how much of a weirdo he was. Who got that close to some one they hardly knew unless they where. . .No! He wasn't going to think about that. He was most likely freaking out over nothing anyway. Surely Inuyasha of all people wouldn't look at that scene like that. Would he?

It wasn't like the guy had any knowledge in the socializing department. Not that he knew.

Why was he so worried about it anyway. That wasn't even the main problem, the guy had lied to him! That's what he should be thinking about. Not the reasons behind that. . .abnormal invading of the mans person space bubble. He could worry about that later. Right now it was about what the conniving liar was hiding from him and why.

There had to have been some clues somewhere. They had talked a bit about the past, something about Jewel shards and there was a name that was mentioned but, he could quite remember it. Something with and 'N' was as far as his brain could get.

Inuyasha had never explained who the 'n' person was or even mentioned him again.

So, that name must of held a lot of information. The man was purposely leaving stuff out and if he was being careful not to mention that name again, it must be a link to something right? Plus Kagome's mother was a horrible liar as well. She wasn't just afraid of the random demons in Inuyasha's time. There was something else bugging her. She had that 'mother's worry' look when she spoke, even when she said she believed in Inuyasha's abilities.

Sighing Hojo pushed away from his desk. He needed sleep. If he kept thinking about the transgressions from the half demon he was going to go insane and make himself sick. If he did that he wouldn't be able to kill the man later. He was probably most likely just going to yell at him then scold him about lying. He couldn't actually kill anything, he couldn't even stay mad for long. . .usually.

* * *

The room was practically pitch black or would have been, but the street lights and flashing night signs coming threw the window gave it light that the moon could not. Just like it would have been could completely silent if not for the sound of traffic and loud laughter from a group of drunk friends walking down the street.

Hojo had fallen into a deep sleep hours ago, snuggled warmly under his covers. His head barely visibly through his twenty to many pillows. He looked like he was buried in the cotton stuffed fabric.

However, something in the back of his mind pulled him from that deep sleep into a lighter one. A strange feeling that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up followed by the hairs on his arms. Even though he wasn't fully awake his mind was trying to tell him something. He didn't feel like listening. Though, when he felt a draft in his room his chest tightened in anxiety.

Hadn't he shut the window?

He started noticing the waking world little by little. A warm blanket, a comfy pillow, cold air, the goose bumps on his limbs, increased heart rate, a feeling of panic. The nagging in the back of his mind wouldn't allow him to ignore the feeling, It coaxed him slowly out of the sleep before giving his senses a harsh shove into the waking world.

A pressure at the foot of his bed causing his mattress to sink in.

Even through his sleep fogged mind he knew that wasn't right. The teens eyes shot open at the realization that someone was in his room and he sat up quickly, Turning to face the end of the bed.

He froze before he could sit up fully, at seeing the silver hair. His panic morphed into anger and something like embarrassment. When the golden eyes looked over at him questioningly and amused, he unfroze himself to sit up fully giving the man a blank stare. "Inuyasha?" He was the presence that had woken him? When had he gotten there in the first place.

Wasn't the half demon trying to avoid him? That would have explained why Inuyasha hadn't woken him up. He didn't want Hojo to know that he was there. Because Hojo was still mad at him, but if he was trying to avoid him why was he here?

"Yeah, what?" The silver haired man turned away again, ear twitching when a noise reached him, a noise that Hojo himself couldn't hear. The kid was staring at him with an analyzing look. It unnerved him. Was the kid going to yell at him or not?

"Inuyasha, what are you doing in my room?"

He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall. Figures, this kid was one of the few people he knew that would over analyze something, think about one question for a whole five minutes, the ask it in the simplest form. "I'm watching you. What else would I be doing?" He said like it should have been obvious already.

Glaring at the half demon Hojo resisted an urge to pull on the mans ear, hard. That much was obvious already. The demon needed to learn how to give detail in his explanation. "Please, tell me this is a demon thing."

Inuyasha looked back at him again, confused and wary. "Yes?" He really didn't know what the teen was talking about, he just didn't feel like getting yelled at.

Hojo saw that, knew Inuyasha was treading carefully. Probably didn't even see hidden words the behind the statement. Too preoccupied with trying not to anger him anymore. The younger male crossed his arms over his chest, raised an eyebrow and smirked. "It's a demon thing to watch people while they sleep?"

"What? Watching you. . ." It took a couple seconds before it sank in and when it did Inuyasha gave the boy an agitated half glare. "I was just making sure you weren't in any danger. Why the hell would I watch you sleep?"

Smiling the boy held back a laugh, "Oh. You mean like a gaurd dog?"

The silver haired males ears twitched again, this time from annoyance and gave the boy a pointed look. "Ha. Ha." Inuyasha laughed sarcastically. "Maybe I should leave. Then you can defend yourself."

The teen thought on the others words for a moment, What exactly did he need protecting from? He had lived in this house all his life and not once did he have a problem. At least not until a Half-demon decided to break into his house. But at least the guy thought he was doing something nice, or perhaps he was doing this because he was being forced to. "Inuyasha, did Kagome send you here?"

The frustrated growl that came from him told Hojo that it was highly possible that Kagome had sent him here. However, there was another possibility that the man felt offended that Hojo thought he had to be told to come here. With Inuyasha the questions never stopped.

"No. She just said that you hadn't been to that school place in a couple days and you hadn't answered the door when she dropped off your work. She was worried, so I decided to find out what the hell was going on." He voice didn't hide any of the irritation but, he was trying to hide his embarrassment. That much was obvious from the way he looked away with a forced scowl.

"I see. Well the next time you see Kagome, would you tell her I'm sorry for making her worry?" He asked politely, but with a frown. He didn't like making his friends worry, he always felt guilty for it even when it wasn't his fault. Kagome and Inuyasha had more important issues to worry about then why he wasn't in school, and Inuyasha had even came to check on him. Now he felt terrible.

"Whatever, just don't do it again. Next time I won't be too happy about it." Inuyasha snapped.

The younger male rolled his eyes. "You don't seem happy about it now."

The human teen didn't see the pillow before it was too late. The force of it knocked him over on his side and he took to glaring at the half demon who sat there looking as if he hadn't done anything wrong in his life. Though, he could swear he saw a smirk on the man's face.

Blinking once and not thinking twice about it, Hojo kick Inuyasha off the foot of the bed hearing the loud thump as the man hit the floor he threw a pillow after him. " You know if you keep attacking people they might put you down."

Inuyasha watched the kid pull the blankets over his head before he could respond. Not that he could, he was still confused. One second he was on the bed then he was on the floor and that boy was talking about killing him. If he really thought about it, something else had to have been bothering the younger male. He couldn't have gotten that mad over the pillow. He wouldn't he was way to much of a happy person for that.

What was the kid mad about anyway? And was this the kids way of throwing a tantrum. Was that teen even possible of a tantrum. Sure he was polite and well mannered, maybe a bit high maintenance but he had to get mad sometime. Not the quiet mad like now but the type of anger that made you yell and scream and want to break things.

He was a human teenager. Out of all the other humans his age, the men seemed to be more aggressive and easily stressed out whether it was from school or from some social thing he could usually hear them complaining about something. He himself turned human every now and then and he could feel all the emotions that practically overwhelmed humans. Where did this kid get so much patients from?

Even the perverted monk had a limit to anger.

Shrugging it off Inuyasha left the pillow and sat by the window. It wasn't his problem, if the kid wanted to keep his anger to himself to the point of insanity that was all on him. He had other things to worry about other then the kid's mental health.

His ears twitched and swerved to hear the noises surrounding the area. He still didn't feel comfortable leaving him yet. Kagome had told him countless times that this time didn't have demons like his time, although he didn't spend enough time here to find out. This time was still dangerous, even more so with the metal things that they used to travel. He saw them crash into each other before, they didn't real look all that safe either.

He could hear yelling not to far away, and he smell fire and burning materials. Loud noises by where the fire and screaming was that he couldn't describe. Somewhere else he could here another loud noise like a gun shot and smaller noises of the same type following it with a crackling sound.

All the noise made his head hurt but, Kagome had seemed worried about the kid and told him to check on him. Of course he didn't want come at first, the kid was probably just trying to get some time to himself. Now however with the commotion going on not too far away he wasn't so sure he should leave yet. Whether the kid was mad at him or not.

* * *

For a second time Hojo was woken up unpleasantly. This time by the loud knocking on his door and his mothers voice.

"Hojo! Dear, you're late." She shouted from the other side of the door when she paused from knocking.

The teen registered what she said and jumped out of bed. "I'm up!" He shouted back and started grabbing his clothes without taking the time to wake up fully. He didn't even register the noise of his alarm clock until he was half way done. He shut off the annoying machine and finished getting ready.

He quickly shoved his papers in his school bag and looked over at his unmade bed with despair. He always had time to straighten up his room before he left for school, This would be his first time late in a good while. He forced himself not to dwell on his mistake and left his room, heading straight for the front door.

"Hojo!"

Freezing in place he gave his mother an impatient but worried look. "Mom, I'm already late. I-"

The woman shook her head, cutting off her son and handed him his lunch and something else that was wrapped in a napkin. "Late or not, you are not going anywhere with an empty stomach and no lunch." She stated firmly with what he would assume was an annoyed pout.

"Thank you, mother." He said smiling gratefully. "I'll call you later." He rushed out the door after waving and headed off to school. He felt bad, not having been up to spend time with his mother while she was home. She was rarely home in the morning and she wouldn't be home until after he went to bed. She never stopped working unless she had too, she liked her job too much. He probably got all his hard working habits from her. .

Though, he should stop studying so late into the night. He should also start locking his windows.

Where was Inuyasha anyway? He was sure that the man was in his room last night before he fell back asleep. If he heard the alarm go off wouldn't he have woken him up? Or did he leave before it went off.

Too bad the demon hadn't stopped by earlier when he was more awake, when he could have actually yelled at him and demanded answers. But being woken up at hideous hour of the morning didn't mix well with starting a full out argument that Hojo would like to avoid completely. Fully awake or not.

He was still confused about why Inuyasha had been there in the first place. He had told him he had come to 'watch him' like the city was on high alert or something. Then he had said he came to 'see what was going on'. It was as if the guy didn't know why he was there himself. He would just have to wait until Inuyasha decided to pop up again. Because, If Inuyasha wasn't around him he was probably at Kagome's house or in his own time.

At this rate he would be an old man before he got any answers from the half demon. It couldn't be helped though, it wouldn't do well to start demanding answers infront of the Higurahsi family and he certianly wasn't traveling through time any time soon. So he would simply have to wait.

He was starting to get tired of waiting, his pateints was wearing thin. He had already had a childish moment when he kicked the man onto the floor.

Taking a deep breath Hojo picked up his speed, He could hear the school bell ring from where he was. This lateness was going to be marked down and his attendence was going to be tainted. He could always be a child a bout it and blame the whole the on Inuyasha. He could say that the dog kept barking all night and it prevented him from sleeping. But that wasn't fair. Inuyasha didn't actually mean to wake him up He was actually being quiet when Hojo had woken up.

He was still guilty though. It was his thought of the man that kept him awake so Inuyasha was still at fault.

* * *

The woman watched her son run off to the school in a hurry. She shook her head but, a small smile had graced itself upon her lips. When she had a child she thought she would experience normal parenthood. That included arguing with your teenager to get up for school early in the mornings.

However, Hojo, was so opposite she had to argue to get him to stay home longer and eat breakfast. When she talked to the other parents at school it seemed they were having difficulties with their children going to school, they would have been completely willing to prolong their fates of the for walls of education.

She should have been happy and great full that her son liked school. Though she had to wonder if he truly did like school or if he was just trying to please her. She had always talked to him about the importance of school and how nice it would be for him to have a nice career when he was older. Perhaps she had put the idea into his head that she wanted him to be the way he was now and he wanted her to be proud of him. She did want him to do well in school, but she wanted him to be happy. If that meant he would drop out and get a little lazy, it would be fine. As long as he was happy.

Well maybe to an extent. She wouldn't let him become a bum, He wasn't going to drop out and expect her to let him live there and eat her food for free. He would have to earn his keep, she worked cleaned and cooked when she could. If he wasn't going to school or working as well, he would at least have to help keep the house clean.

Sighing she shook those thoughts out of her head. She had raised him better then that, and she had told him about those things because he seemed interest to know about them. School and health. . .Maybe he would be a doctor too.

She laughed to her self and walked up to her sons room. She had to leave soon, she wouldn't be here to great him, so maybe she could at least make his bed for him. He would probably have it nagging in his mind all day that he had left it in such a state.

Opening his door she walked to the bed grabbing a hold of the blanket she went to shake out the wrinkles. When she pulled the blanket towards her something caught her eye and made her frown.

Mud. There was mud on his sheets. How did such a thing end up in his room? He always took his shoes of at the front door and his clothes were always placed in the hamper in the corner of his room. She doubted Hojo would gotten mud on the bed from that. He wouldn't have gotten on the bed if he knew there was mud on him.

Her eyebrows came together as she pulled the blanket off the bed. She would ask her son about it when she saw him again. For now, she would throw these in the wash and leave him a note about it.

_'Did it even rain yesterday?' _She thought as she carried the blankets to the wash.

* * *

_Well yeah that is it. It still seems so. . .unfinished. I really didn't like the chapter. No I don't relly picture Inuyasha hitting Hojo with a pillow, I just thought it would be fun to write. I don't even picture Hojo getting mad but, the guy doesn't appear much in the anime and everyone needs to get mad sometime. Even, Hojo. Referring to Naraku as 'that 'N' person, automatically made me think of Near from Death Note. It was followed up by different ways a conversation between them would go. . .none of them turned out pleasant. Not pleasent at all. _

_Anyway I'm going to go try and plan out the next chapter. . .Maybe later since the dogs are going insane. . ._


	7. Realization

_**Hello poeple who are somehow patient enough to wait for these extremely late chapters. I really am sorry. I honestly hadn't been aware of the time gap from last chapter to this one. For that I apologize. Um here's the seventh chapter. It is the seventh right? **_

****

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha_

Chapter Seven(?): Realization.

Inuyasha was starting to feel a little guilty for making the kid late for that school place, but at the same time he was amused. The human was even more uptight about making it to that stupid building then Kagome was and he couldn't help but feel a little accomplished by making him late.

But, again, he felt guilty. Something in his mind wouldn't let him enjoy his childish victory. Hojo was so dedicated to his learning that Inuyasha couldn't truly enjoy making him miss that loud metallic ringing he heard from all the way across town.

The half demon shrugged and jumped of the roof of the house. He had to get back to his time and see if the others were awake yet. Sango and kaede were most likely the only ones up. Shippo still being so young needed more sleep then they did and was naturally the last one awake. Miroku and Kagome usually got up somewhere in between the early birds and the kit but which one woke up first was random.

It was times like these Inuyasha wished he didn't travel with humans. Even the strongest human became the weakest when they lacked rest. Demons could go days without sleep and fight just fine.

A quick image flashed in his mind. One of Hojo, fighting a demon. An image of him fighting a demon and loosing horribly. The kid just didn't look like he had it in him. He'd probably die from fright if he ever seen a demon from his time.

Inuyasha made it through the well without even realizing it. He was greeting by the old priestess drinking hot tea and chatting with Sango about new places to look for shards. He walked into to the hut and looked over to the side, just like he thought , Kagome Miroku and Shippo were all sleeping.

He took a seat with his back to the sleepers and faced the two women. "At least someone's working on our problem. How long are those guys going to sleep? The suns already up."

"Give them a break Inuyasha. Kagome's was up all night and Miroku's not used to having to get up on schedule. "Sango said, looking behind the silver haired male.

Inuyasha snorted, Sango might have been talking as if she were defending them but that look she was giving the monk was far from nice. "Whatever. Have there been any rumors that could be related to the Jewel shards or Naraku?" he asked Kaede.

The woman shook her head. "No. There hasn't been a word about attacks or abnormal disturbances." She said refilling her cup. "I suggest ye all go to the last place you found a shard and look for any clues about where that devil could be hiding."

"Dammit. This is getting ridiculous! Why can't that bastard stay in one place? Then he disappears in the middle of a fight. He's a coward."

Sango placed a hand on the males shoulder. "Calm down Inuyasha. It's frustrating for us all, but it won't get us any closer if we let the anger get the better of us. "

"Aye, you must stay calm and plan ahead. " The woman said handing the male a cup. "If ye were to lose patience then, Naraku will certainly win."

Inuyasha took the cup but only looked down at the contents. It wasn't that it smelt bad or anything, Kaede was actually a decent cook. He just wasn't hungry, he doubted he could stomach it just to be polite. This stress was starting to take a toll on everything he did.

With Kagome always running back and forth and Naraku being evasive and hiding his mind was everywhere. Then there was Hojo, who kept popping into his head for some reason or another. Either his safety came to mind or whether the kid was doing okay in general. Maybe it was a sign that the kid would be getting in to some kind of trouble soon.

It wasn't like he thought about people like this all the time was it? So something had to be going on.

"Inuyasha when we finally finish off Naraku and obtain the full Jewel, what do you think will happen?" Sango asked giving him a serious look.

The half demon look at the girl with a scowl. "What do you mean what do I think will happen? What kind of question is that?" He snapped at her. Where were these questions coming from all of the sudden?

The young woman sighed and shook her head. "You mentioned before you wanted to become a full demon and that you planned to use the jewel for that purpose. You have transform into something similar to that when you haven't been within tetsaiga's reach and you could barley control your bloodlust. Do you believe any of us would allow you to make such a wish when we've seen the assumed outcome?"

Inuyasha glared at her for a moment then turned away. "whatever. Let's just focus on finding Naraku and destroying him before we figure out what to do with the jewel." He mumbled. It wasn't that he was angry that they would be keeping him from his wish but that she was right. He did have a hard time controling his demon side. If he truly became full demon he could possibly end up trying to kill the people he know calls friends.

He never had any friends growing up. In all honesty, he had stopped wishing for friends at a young age. He was accustomed to being labeled a freak. It wasn't like there were a whole lot of half-breeds out there he could have talked to. Half demons were rare. Or maybe they weren't but they were in hiding, afraid to come out and face the people who hated them.

Then the whole mess with Kikyo happened and then he was sure he was done with trying to be nice to humans. Even when he first met Kagome he had planned on killing her. If it weren't for the beads she would have been dead a long time ago before he ever started considering her important. He never would have met Miroku, Sango or the brat.

Was it worth becoming a demon if he would blindly slaughter his friends?

He put his cup down and stood up. "I'll be down by the river, Let me know when the others get up so we can start searching." He said and left without any further explanation.

* * *

Hojo was no longer surprised when he didn't see Kagome in class. However he was still worried, knowing she was in another era fighting demons. It must be scary to be fighting things that could be as strong as Inuyasha was.

The boy sighed when the thought of the half demon came to mind. How did the guy end up upsetting him constantly everytime he saw him lately. He still hadn't gotten a good opportunity to get him to talk about that Naraku guy. There was no way he was going to argue with that guy while he was half asleep.

Somehow inuyahsa had ingrained himself into the back of Hojo's mind. He was determined to get answers out of the man the next time they met but at the same time, he wanted to stay as far away from the half demon as possible.

He hadn't known at first. Well that was a lie, he had suspicions the whole time since the first time he had met the other. The reason why he worried about him. The reason he over reacted when Inuyasha hadn't told him everything.

why he always thought about him. At first it was easily brushed off as considering the other a friend. But the tightening in his chest he was starting to get when ever the man was around, the fact that when he saw him he wanted to engage the guy in a converstation and flee at the same time. And when Kagome showed up at school that meant if he went to her house Inuyasha would most likely show up at some point.

"Hojo!"

Hojo flinched, startled, and looked across the library for the one who had disturbed his thoughts. Seeing one of Kagome's friends waving to him. "Good afternoon, Ayumi. Did you need something?" He asked putting on a smile.

Ayumi smiled back and spoke, this time her voice was considerably lower. "Not really. I was just wondering If you knew why Kagome was absent today. She's been getting sick a lot lately so it's worrisome when she suddenly skips. Since you had been hanging out with her so much lately I thought maybe. . ."

"She's fine. She's just been studying to hard for the tests, she should be back after much deserved rest." He stated and stood up from the table and nodded his head politely. "If you'll excuse me I need to get going. I'll tell Kagome you asked about her when I drop off the notes and work she missed. Inuyasha's probably agitating her to death anyway."

"You've met Inuyasha?"

Hojo had mumbled the last bit to himself but it seemed to reach the girls ears anyway and he paused somewhat confused? "Of course I have."

"But doesn't that hurt, to see her and him together, when she knows you've been in love with her for so long?"

The male gave an awkward laugh. "Ayumi I'm not sure what you're talking about but, there's nothing like that going on. With any of us. We're all friends, nothing more.'

"But Inuyasha's been Kagome's boyfriend for years now!" Hojo shook his head and walked past her hearing her whisper to her self about secret love affairs and romance novels.

But know that he stopped and thought about, there was a rumor about kagome having a mystery boyfriend back when he was trying to date her. Could Inuyasha be the same guy they were talking about. Ayumi had said his name clearly so there wasn't really any question about it.

Honestly what was it with woman and gossip? Was it just to amuse themselves during the boring school hours or did they really think things like this were important?

Well it could be important if Kagome was actually with Inuyasha and lying to him about it, but she wasn't and information like that could have really upset him, if Kagome was actually dating inuyasha and he still liked her. The girls should be more careful about what they say to people.

Hojo left the building and turned the opposite way from his normal route home and down the one that lead to the Higurashi household. It didn't take long to get there, it was no where near the long walk it took to get to his own house. It was a twenty minute walk at the most.

He hesitated before knocking on the door. He never used to get nervous about coming to Kagome's until he knew of Inuyasha. He swallowed a lump in his throat hoping that Inuyasha wouldn't be their but praying almost desperately that he was. Why did crushes have to be confusing?

Kagome's mother answered the door her ever present smile. "Hello Hojo, How are you doing?"

"I'm fine ma'am. Is Kagome home?" He asked and made a guess by the troubled expression that appeared on the woman's face that she wasn't. "She's back in the Fuedal Era then? Well, here is her school work anyway. Tell her that history report is due nex-"

"you know Hojo, she is supposed to be back tonight, if you want to come in and wait.?"

Hojo took in the woman's worried face and nodded. His mother was the same way. If she was worried about something she wanted a distraction. Having a guest was a good distraction if you liked to play mothering host.

Just like he thought, the moment he came inside she ushered him into the dining room and offered him a seat and asked what he wanted to drink. He smiled as he sat down. "Anything you have ready is fine. "

The woman made him a cup of the tea that had been made not to long before he came and paused as she sat the cup in front of him. "Have you eaten dear? I'll make you something small. You have an early lunch period right? The same as Kagome's?"

"Yes and Thank you Ms. Higurashi, food would be appreciated." He said politely. He wasn't really hungry but the she seemed like she needed something to occupy herself with. He sat and waited patiently.

* * *

Kagome shot off another arrow at the enemy, nearly hitting Inuyasha in the process. They had been hunting down this one since Kagome woke up from sensing the shards it held. According to her it had three lodged somewhere in it's chest. And by the way the one paw of beasts caused tremors beneath their feet Inuyasha didn't doubt it.

Sango and Kirara where airborn. Kirara trying to keep as steady as possible while Sango tried to pinpoint a weak spot to strike at. Miroku had stuck close to Kagome, making sure to keep her out of harms way. Though Inuyasha thought that it was took catch a glimpse of her butt when her skirt flew when she made certain movements.

Inuyasha was in mid stike his sword coming down hitting the demon dead center of the forehead. The Tetusaiga did infact penetrate the skin and he even felt the bone give way under the power of the sword but the demon swatted him away like a fly, as if it hadn't even noticed the blow.

Somehow the half-demon managed to land on his feet. And growled to himself. They were going to have to remove the jewel shards before finishing the thing off. He looked over at Kagome who was about to fire another arrow. "Kagome! Aim for the jewel shards in it's chest!" he shouted, and heard her groan with frustration.

'what do you think I've been doing!" she yelled back letting the go and watching it embed itself into the demons arm.

'_Damn her bad aim.' _Inuyasha thought. He looked over at Sango who was landing by Kagome and Miroku and got an Idea. "Sango! You know how to use a bow?"

Sango looked at the silver-haired male before nodding. "Got it." She said and immediately started helping Kagome aim. With Sango helping it didn't take anymore then a few seconds of anticipation before the arrow struck the demon right in the chest. The pure energy interacted with the energy from the tainted jewel shards, bring the giant creature to it knees. Inuyasha taking the moment of weakness and slashed at it again before the effect from Kagome's arrow wore off.

The demon disintegrated with an awful roar. The small shards fell into the pile and Kagome picked them up with a sigh. "These demons keep getting stronger. This battle was twice as long as the last one. . ."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he sheathed his sword. "It would help if you'd start practicing your aim. Unlike Sango and Miroku your physically weak. That arrow is the only thing you have to protect yourself with in battle. It would help if you could use it correctly."

"what do you mean it's the only thing that's protecting me?" She asked crossing her arms. "Are you saying you would let me get hurt or killed!"

"No, I'm saying that with everything going on there are going to be times when we won't be with you. If Naraku found a way to split us up, how are you going to defend yourself?"

Kagome gave him an offended look and glared. "I'm not some defenseless child, Inuyasha! I'd figure something out. It's not like it hasn't happened before."

Inuyasha matched her glare and stayed quiet as he walked past her. There was no point in arguing with her. She would either scream until she turned red or turn it around so it was his fault. "Whatever, you still need to go 'study' right?"

Inuyasha helped Kagome up through the well. He hated when she brought her books, not only did it add more weight then need, not that he really noticed the extra wieght, but it made it difficult for the girl to move around and she struggled and lagged behind when they where shard hunting. It was a nuisance.

He stepped out of the shrine and paused. He picked up Hojo's scent. It was an odd scent of some type of sweet smelling flower and the medicine that Kagome brought with her. It was like a spicy perfume that was mild enough to not burn his nose. He glanced at Kagome, who's smell he had long ago noticed consisted of a floral perfume in general.

Things people were around a lot seemed to stick to their skin like a tatoo, mingling with there natural scent. It could be troubling for animals and demon who's sense of smell was flawed or injured. Against a enemy with a weak sense of smell all you would have to do was calm down enough for your adrenaline to go down. The less you sweated the less likely a weak nose could pick up your natural scent. Staying down-wind helped to.

Either way that wasn't the point, the point was Hojo must have spent a lot of time around medicine and flowers. Did that mean he used the medicines a lot too? But for what it wasn't like that human fought at all. Inuyasha doubted he could.

"Inuyasha what wrong?" Kagome asked noticing that the half demon had paused in the shrines doorway.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Nothing I was just wondering why that Hojo kid is here." He said truthfully. Didn't the guy only come here to help Kagome with that school stuff?

"Hojo's Here!" She exclaimed and started running towards the house, Inuyasha followed behind at a more normal pace, glad Kagome left the door open at least. Last time he tried to open it, the knob wouldn't turn and he had yanked to hard. Kagome's mother wasn't happy to see her door had be completely tore off.

He gently pushed the door forward, when he looked in the room his eye's caught Hojo's. The boy smiled happily and Inuyasha was a little confused by the tightening it caused in his chest. "Hey." he mumbled. He wasn't sure where his voice had gone, but it definitely wasn't where it normally existed and the look on the other males face made him feel even more guilty then he was already feeling from making the kid late earlier.

"Are you okay Inuyasha?" Kagome's mother had made her way over to him and started checking him for a fever.

He smacked her hand away, careful not to hurt her. "If I was sick I wouldn't be here. Demon's don't get sick like humans." He stated arrogantly. And walked further into the kitchen standing Behind Kagomes chair, facing Hojo. He looked at the boy again, apparently the guy had been staring and was trying to be sneaky about it, because as soon as he looked up, Hojo looked down to his cup.

"Well if you're being jerk you must be feeling okay." Kagome grumbled shooting the half demon a pointed glare.

"Kagome leave Inuaysha alone. You know just as well as anyone that he's not used to socializing." The older woman said in a cheerier mood then she had been in before the two had walked in the door.

Inuyasha wasn't positive but he could swear that the woman was teasing him. Why did everyone pick on him when he came here. _'at least that old man isn't here throwing useless pieces of paper at me and mumbling gibberish.' _He thought wondering where the old man had gone. And the kid for that matter. Usually when he visited Sota would hound him for stories and talk about certain events then the old man would either insult him or put him to work.

Hojo was never here though. Inuyasha looked at the teen again finding him looking at him again. This time though Hojo didn't look away but gave another smile.

The half demon glared at him, suspiciously. "What are you doing here?" He asked earning an angry remark from Kagome and a nervous look from the one he was actually talking to.

"Well I-I dropped off Kagome's homework and Mrs. Higurashi invited me in for tea and made me lunch. Which I appreciated very much." He said looking at the older woman, still smiling.

The woman laughed and patted the boys shoulders. "Any time dear. Feel free to drop by as much as you like, especially when your mother is working. You should be around people outside of school more. " The woman stated in a mothering tone refilling his cup. She tilted her head in thought. "Have you called your mother today?"

Hojo shook his head. "No she has two surgeries today and then she's taking a night shift. I'm not supposed to call unless there is an emergency. She'll call when she has a free moment."

"Maybe you should stay here for the night. I don't feel right letting you go home to an empty house for the rest of the night. I'll go make up the guest room. Meanwhile you could help Kagome study, she's falling behind again."

"Mom!"

The boy nodded ignoring kagomes protest of needing Hojo's help. He knew perfectly well that she was failing a few of the classes. "I'm very grateful. I'll make sure she works hard."

The woman nodded back and gave another soft laugh before leaving the room Kagome going after her. Hojo immediately turned his attention to Inuyasha and smirked. "So Inuyasha. . .Who's Naraku?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "It's not important who he his. Not to you anyway. How did you find out about him anyway?"

"I'm not going to say. But you have been hiding things from me and I don't like it."

"What are you? My wife?"

Hojo fought to keep his blush down, failing miserably. "No, but I don't think friends are supposed to lie to each other either. "

Inuyasha stopped glaring for a second and looked away. Did he consider the kid a friend? It would probably explain the reason why he was constantly worried about him. Maybe even why he was wondering about what the human was doing every now and then. But that did make that kid right. If they were friends then Inuyasha shouldn't be keeping Naraku a secret. He didn't want Hojo worrying about Kagome and him.

But, it wasn't right.

Inuyasha growled to himself agitated about it, but took a deep breath before he spoke. "Naraku, is a powerful demon who's trying to get a hold of the jewel. We've been hunting him down for a few years now trying to destroy him. "

Hojo went silent for a minute tapping the cup he was holding with his index finger. "how powerful is he. That is to say, How difficult will it be for you to kill him?"

"If we're not careful, we could be killed in a heart beat. "

"Are you Crazy!" Hojo shouted, shooting up from his seat accidently knocking his tea over. He didn't even hear it when it hit the ground. "Is a jewel really worth your life! Even if it can grant you a wish!"

"it's not about the jewel anymore. It's about bringing down demon who causes nothing but misery and suffering to anyone he comes across." he stated. Finally getting what his own subconscious was trying to bring to the surface.

It wasn't about the Shikon jewel anymore, Not even about the revenge. It was about wiping Naraku from existence before he ruined anymore lives. To protect those who had yet to learn of Naraku.

"But what if you do get killed?" Hojo forced his shouting to go down and was practically hissing at the other. "or kagome? How do you thinkg her mother will feel?"

Looking at the younger male inuyasha shrugged. There wasn't much more he could do. "Kagome's mother is aware of the danger she is in. And I might get on Kagome's case about finding the shards but I'm not going to force her to fight a demon like Naraku. That was her own choice. " He stated watching Hojo get a distant look before looking defeated.

"Nevermind. I understand and you're right. If this other demon is as cruel as you say he is and you feel like you have to stop him, I haven't any right to stop you from doing so." Hojo mumbled. He was truly afraid that something might happen to them. He couldn't be selfish about something like this. If Inuyasha thought he had the power to stop someone and didn't, then Inuyasha would probably blame himself for not giving it a shot in the first place.

"It'll be okay Hojo." Kagome said as she walk into the Kitchen. "Inuyasha is very strong and he's come along way from the careless jerk he used to be. And Sango and Miroku will be there too, and there really all the help we'll need. I'm not going to say the battle will be easy but, I believe we'll pull through. "

Hojo shook his head. "I can't be there physically but, I'll help with whatever I can." He said with a sigh. Right now he felt like he had never pried for answers. But at least know he knew what going on and that there weren't any secrets being covered up. "Come on, Kagome we'll start with your history first and since I'll be here over night, after breakfast we can work on your English assignment."

Hojo ushered Kagome upstairs, listening to Inuyasha snicker at Kagome's misfortune as he trailed behind them. He probably would never get rid of the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach until the whole Naraku thing was over, but he could at least try to be happy. If not for himself, then for the people he cared for. Right?

* * *

_Like i said sorry about the LONG wait. But If it makes any of you less irritated, I have been thinking up new Ideas for other stories. . .Not going to say anything more about that since most of my Ideas are in that phase were most of the story is floating around in your mind and only small little bits of the plot have made it on paper trying to work out the larger details to see if it would actually work or not. . .Yeah. At one point while I was working on this chapter I was thinking about making a Face Book just for the soul purpose of allowing people who were reading this story to yell at me to hurry up. But then after a nights sleep I didn't think it was such a great idea. lol. _

_Either way, Imma go make me a burger and find a movie to watch until I pass out from sleepiness._


	8. Stupid Crush

_I'm **ALIVE**! I'm very sorry for the long semi-absence, I'm even more sorry for the grammer and spelling mistakes that are littering this chapter. I have gone over it, but without a spell check and grammer check, I can only use my own eyes, which are not good with grammer anyway. But I have a working computer, so at least I CAN update. . .right. Well feel free to read._

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. . .wish I did though. . .**_

**Chapter 8: Stupid Crush**

* * *

It was eleven in the morning when Hojo woke up. When he first caught sight of the clock he jumped out of bed think he was late for school. He was glad that his brain started up before he finished putting his school uniform on completely and rushed out the door.

Changing out of the half way on uniform he grabbed jeans, a button shirt, and finally pulled a green knitted sweater over his head. He had been staying at the Higurashi house which had become like a second home for him while his mother over worked herself at the hospital. He ended up staying here on and off by insistence of Kagome's mother almost a month ago. He had turned her down multiple times but always ended up with the sickening feeling of guilt when he left. Soon he had taken her up on the offer and some how the woman had adopted him into the family. Not quiet as a son, but perhaps a nephew or a younger cousin.

The arrangement had it's pros and cons.

On the down side, He had little alone time. Between helping Ms. Higurashi around the house, Helping Kagome with school, doing his own school work, studying, trying to keep up with his mother, Sota asking him to play soccer so he could practice, Then the Old higurashi man always telling him tales of demons and teaching him mantra's and demon repeling techniques that Inuyasha swore were uselss, and Inuyasha coming and going at odd hours, it was hard to find solitude. And that was something which he had used before to read a book or find a creative outlet to deal with the minor stress from school.

The pros of staying her was the feeling of being a part of a family. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long while. For years it had only been him and his mother and with his mother working all the time it didn't leave much time to do things families usually do. Like eat dinner together, or talk about their day. although him and his mom were close to the point he knew he could tell her anything and know how she would react he didn't see as much of her as he would have liked. So yes it was definitely nice to experience a normal family setting. . .If you count the eldest child befriending a half demon from another era normal.

He made his way down stairs into the kitchen to find Mrs. Higurashi and Grandpa Higurashi sitting at the table. Sota had spent the night over a friends house and Kagome had left to help Inuyasha and the others thursday, Both whom which would be back in time for dinner, while Hojo would be going to his real home to see his mother who would be coming home for the night.

"How did you sleep, dear?" Mrs. Higurashi asked handing Hojo a cup and grabbing the pot of tea.

Hojo watched the tea being poured and smiled tiredly. "Not very well to be honest. I was up late studying." He told her while trying to stifle a yawn, unsucessfully.

The old man shook his head. "You keep up that routine of yours and your going to end up exhausting yourself to death!"

The younger male frowned. he really didn't want any one worrying over him. "I'm sorry, But it really can't be helped. Schools been really demanding lately. I'll try to get some sleep this weekend. Is that okay?"

"Of course and if you really need some extra time, I could always find Kagome another tutor. It must be exhausting having to help her with all her classes." Mrs. Higurashi offered seeing the boy look more worn out then a highschool student should. She knew the last year of school put a lot of pressure on the kids but Hojo wasnt so much pressured as he was tired.

She couldnt help but feel sorry for the boy.

The teen smiled gratefully. "Its not necessary. I'll admit, Kagomes school work is a lot to take on but its really the extracurricular activities that are too much. Between helping with the end of the year events and the party it gets a bit frustrating. No one is agreeing on anything right now and Im afraid theyre expecting more out of me then I'm actually capable of." He explained.

It was the truth. The clubs did have high expectation of him that he felt he needed to reach. The only thing was that he left out the part about a certain half demon being on his mind. It was definitely interfering with his sleep. How could possibly fall asleep when he was worried about Inuyasha the whole time.

Was he okay? Did he notice Hojo had taken a liking to him? When was he going to stop by again? How would the man react if he told him about his feelings? Did Inuyasha worry about him at all? Was he just an annoying guy that Inuyasha was forced to hang around or did he actually see him as a friend. . .or maybe something else?

It was a lot of questions and a lot of it was just wishful thinking, but what else could he do? He couldnt force him self not to like the other male. The same thoughts that made him feel a warmth in his chest, made him sick to his stomach.

Hojo knew that if his feelings grew for the half demon and he got rejected, he would be heartbroken. It really scared him. He'd been rejected before, but hed never had his heart broke. It wasnt sure how he would handle it. Or if he could handle Inuyasha not accepting the fact that Hojo did in fact, like guys. Why did Inuyasha make everything so complicated?

Grandpa Higurashi gave the boy a stern look. "You best stop worrying about what other expect of you and only give what you can, other wise you will just hurt yourself in the end. You hear me?"

"Yes sir." He replied with a nod. It was good advice but not exactly the kind of advice he needed right now. He sighed internally and resisted the over dramatic urge to slam his into the table.

"Why dont you help me with dinner. Maybe it will help take your mind off your responsibilities from school." The woman of the house offered as she stood up. She wasn't sure but she got the feeling that, school, wasn't Hojo's only problem.

Standing up pushing his chair in started following the instructions Mrs. Higurashi gave. Chopping vegetables wasnt exactly something Hojo enjoyed doing, but at the moment he would try anything to distract himself from thinking about the half demon.

It didn't take long before the two of them to get everything prepared and into the pot. The food would be cooking for the rest of the day at its own pace while he helped Mrs. Higurashi clean the house and switch out the decorations for different ones. The woman seemed to openly welcome autumn with the fall theme knickknacks. Scarecrows and fall vegetables with little hay stack here and there. She seemed very happy to be redecorating the house.

It made Hojo wonder if his mother had any intentions of ever redoing their own home. As he brought in another box from the shed outside he heard a commotion from inside the well house.

For a moment he thought a couple of kids must have snuck into the small structure before he heard Kagome's voice and remembered that the well was how Kagome and Inuyasha traveled through time.

'Looks like their home early.' he thought shifting the container in his arms and wondering if he should wait to greet them. A glimpse of silver had him hurrying into the house.

It was confusing. One minute he wanted to see the half demon but the moment he saw him he wanted to be as far away from the man as possible.

Hojo enough crushes in his opinion to realize there was something dramatically different in this particular situation. He wouldnt say he was afraid of inuyasha, but it was as if any confidence he had seemed to magically disappear the moment he saw the other male.

He didnt understand why. When he had a crush on Kagome he was always running up to her and asking her out despite all the times she turned him down. After Kagome there had been that one girl who he had gone out with for six months and on of the guys from school he had hung out with. None of them ever made him feel this anxious or second guess himself but, Inuyasha did.

He also got angry at Inuyasha quicker then anyone else and at the same time he couldnt stay truly mad at him for long. Despite being so nervous around the half demon, he couldnt help the giddy feeling that bubbled in his chest when he knew the other was around.

Hojo got into the sitting room setting the box down and smiled at Mrs Higurashi. "Theyre back already." He stated just as the two made their way in the house. Kagome quickly got to talking to her mother about the things that had gone on in the fuedal era. Some things good, some bad.

However while Kagome ranted about her time, Hojo was completely determined to pretend that Inuyasha wasn't standing in the entry way to the room observing what he was doing. Inuyasha probably noticed that he was avoiding him. He had been for a couple weeks. This was actually the first time in those weeks that they had been in the same room for longer then ten seconds.

Gathering up whatever remaining confidence he had he smiled at the other man and held out a little decorated candle to him. "We're setting up for fall. Do you want to help?"

Inuyasha looked a little shock. Most likely surprised that Hojo had spoke to him. The shock didnt last long. Soon the silver haired male snorted and turned his head away. "I'll pass. Celebrating isn't my thing."

Hojo knew Inuyasha really didnt like festive things. He probably didnt see the point in it all. But it still felt like the he was being rejected. Silly as it was, the simple answer inuyasha gave caused Hojo's mood to declined a bit.

As depressed as he had become however, he had still agreed to help Mrs. Higurashi with the decorating.

Inuyasha watched the other male as he continued placing items around on the shelf. He felt as though he had missed something. It wasn't the barely noticable change in the kids mood. He was completly aware that Hojo had become a little depressed.

There was something else that he could figure out. It was starting to frustrate him. He was never good at reading people, but this was ridiculous. When Kagome got upset he could usually guess what it was that had upset her in the first place. Maybe it wasn't so difficult because he himself was normally the reason.

It wasn't so different now though was it? Hojo had been fine until he had said he didn't want to help. So it was his fault, he got that. But why would saying no to helping, make the kid upset?

Humans were confusing.

"Hey, Hojo?"

Kagome's voice caused the boy to turn around. He gave her a smile. "Yeah?"

"You remembered to get my homework right? and the notes?" She asked as she closed up the box, done setting everything up.

"Of course, Their on your desk." He replied taking the last ornament out of his own box. "Sorry I won't be able to tutor you tonight."

"It's no problem, really. Would you like inuyasha to walk you?" Kagome asked ignoring the half demon's glare.

Hojo shook his head. "It won't be necessary, She's picking me up." he answered, looking at the clock. "In fact she should be her in a few minutes.

"Oh that's right, if got to get that cook book for her. Make your self comfortable Hojo, Do you boy's want anything from the kitchen?" Mrs. Higurashi asked with a smile, pausing at the kitchen door for their answers.

Hojo gave a polite smile in return. "Some water would be nice."

"Ramen." Inuyasha stated falt out, not being rude, but not polite either. It earned him to stern looks from Kagome and Hojo. He looked away as if pretending they weren't giving him those looks would change reality.

Kagome brushed past him with a 'hmph', and went to the kitchen to help her mother. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the girl. and chanced a look at Hojo. The boy had stood up folded his arms across his chest. "What?"

"You could at least say please." the teen stated, no longer looking sad.

Inuyasha shot daggers at the younger male. "What are you my mother?"

"That women treats you like one of her own children the least you could do is treat her with a little bit of respect, Inuyasha." He couldn't believe this guy sometimes. He act like an ill-mannered child. He wondered in the back of his mind, how his own mother would react to the half demons antics. She wouldn't tolerate them for a second. "When she brings you your food, You should say thank you."

"Don't tell me what to do."

Hojo sighed and took a seat on the couch across from where Inuyasha was standing. Maybe it would be better if he never told Inuyasha and that Inuyasha never felt the same way. His mother wouldn't approve and he really didn't want the one he was with to not get along with his family. It would cause too many issues. Then again he already had the crush, he couldn't force it to go away.

Stupid crush.

When Kagome and her mother returned to the room Inuyasha silently took his food, sat down on the floor and started eating. He was a few bites in when he realized Hojo was back to glaring at him. he didn't even have to look up to know, he could feel the angry stare. Saying it was annoying wouldn't describe it at all. He only got a couple more bites in before he looked up at the boy with a glare of his own. They had locked them self in a stare down.

Getting fed up Inuyasha took a deep breath. "Thank you!"

It took the woman by surprise. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the growl filled the tense silence. Looking over at the disgruntled demon sitting in her living, she gave a tense smile. "You're welcome dear."

Hojo's angry looked disappear and was replaced be a more cheerful one.

Inuyasha practically burried his red face in his bowl and started eating again. only looking up once as a loud noise came from outside. Kagome had told him a few times before that it was a called a car horn. A noise that was normally used to alert other drivers when they were doing something wrong or to pay attention.

Hojo stood up and gave a small bow. "That would be her, I'll see everyone tomorrow. Have a good evening." He said as he gathered up the cookbook and his jacket and left.

Inuyasha had been curious as to who 'her' was. Though he couldn't bring himself to ask. besides it wasn't any of his business who the girl was. He went back to eating, with a slowly souring mood.

* * *

Hojo smiled as he greet his mother. The woman had definitely seen better days. Her bright eyes were dulled with weariness and she had dark tired bags under her eyes. Her clothes were wrinkles and her doctors coat was thrown into the back seat with out care. "Would you like me to make you something when we get home. I could make dinner while you take a shower." He offered. He didn't like seeing his mother looking so. . .tired. For the lack of a better words.

"That would be nice. I definitely need one." She stated with a luagh. "How was your time at the Higurashi's?"

"It was fine. I helped Mrs. Higurashi with dinner and then we all decorated the house for the season. I got Inuyasha to say thank you."

"Inuyasha? He's the one Kagome was worried about isn't he? You never told me much about him." HEr tone hinted at her growing curiosty.

Hojo looked out the window to the building that seemed like a big blur. "Not much I can say, or rather not many words can describe him." He told her honestly not sure how to describe Inuyasha to his mother. He turned his head to face her, hearing her luagh again. "What?"

The woman shot him a look out of the corner of her eyes, quickly before focusing back on the road. "You got it bad, don't you?"

He could feel his face burning, and he looked away from her again. "It's just a little crush. It'll pass." His face only reddened more as the luaghter came back.

"Don't lie to me, I saw that look in your eyes." She said teasingly. "Now tell me about. What's he like?"

Hojo slumped in his seat completely embarrassed. "Well. . .He's nothing like anyone I've met before. He's not someone I would have decided to fall for if I had the choice."

"But loves not I choice dear." She said with a wisdom only someone with a deep understanding or experience could have.

"I know. It's just, sometimes he's like a misbehaved child. He's disrespectful to an extent, has very little manners. He has a quick temper, and. . .I don't know. Just little things he does that should upset me, don't. Then there are things that usually don't upset, making me so angry with him." He could feel himself getting frustrated already.

The woman continued to smile to herself joyfully. "There has to be something could about him though, right?"

"He values his friends more then anything. He's very protective of his friends and reliable. He's loyal, you could trust him with your life. He acts really tough, but he can't stand to see women cry. He's kind. . . in his own screwed up way."

"Sounds like a keeper to me. When are you bringing him over for dinner?"

"Mother!" he exlaimed, utterly mortified at his mothers eagerness to meet his potential, 'but mostly likely never going to happen', boyfriend.

The woman's smile didn't fade the whole ride home, or even while she slept that night. The boy her son talked about sounded truly like someone she could approve of her son being with, despite the delinquent mannerisms. As long as he made her son happy she could deal with it. Of course she would deal with it her own special way. If her own son wasn't to big to get scolded or put over her knee, niether was this, Inuyasha boy.

* * *

_There's the eighth chapter, Finally. I would like to thank every one who has been patient (or not) with me in waiting for this chapter. No one likes to wait to read the next chapter. Again sorry for the spelling and grammer mistakes. . . Well there's not much more to say. . .um. . .Review's are appreciated? _

_ ** - VJ**_


	9. Off

_Not sure how long it's been since I updated. . .Either way I kinda devoloped some kind of writers block in random places in this chapter, so forgive me if it's painfully noticable. Not much else to say unless you want to read me whining about being cold and tired. . .My family keeps they AC on full blast and the computers right nect to an open vent with no cover. . ._

_Anyway enjoy the chapter (or not)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha!**

**Chapter Nine: Off**

* * *

Having turned off the television a little more then a half an hour ago, Hojo was lounging on the couch with a book. Deciding to take advantage of the moment of peace at the Higurashi house to read a book he got from the school's library.

So when Inuyasha slammed the door open, Hojo of course jumped from the sudden loud noise in the currently quiet house.

When he seen the half demon he let out a relieved sigh, but noticed something was a little off. Inuyasha was looking around almost, hastily. The gold eyes landed on Hojo briefly, searched the rest of the room and landed back on him again. "Inuyasha wha-"

"Where's Kagome?"

"Kagome's still at school." He stated simply, unsure if he wanted to ask why Inuyasha was looking panicked.

"What?"'

"She was late this morning, she got detention. . .It means, she's required to stay after for an hour as punishment for her lateness?" He explained, just in case the other didn't know what a detention was.

If it wasn't for the fact that the taller male was completely infuriated and ready to snap, Hojo just might have laughed at the way he looked as if he was about to slam his head into the wall. "Calm down Inuyasha. What's going on?"

Inuyasha's eye twitched slightly. He did not want to calm down right now. "We have a lead to Naraku and we can't go too far without Kagome. " Inuyasha stated not missing the humans raised brow. "What?"

"I thought Kagome wasn't all that useful to the team. The way you speak about her I thought she was more of a hindrance."

Scowling, Inuyasha walked completely into the house, shutting the door behind him. "She the only one who can sense and purify the shards, of course she's important."

Hojo smiled at hearing the other speak about his friends positively. Usually he complained about Kagome's aim or the fact the he had to travel with humans to begin with. Always talking about how fragile they were. It was nice to know that Inuyasha saw their good traits as well, even if it was something he was using for his own purpose.

He closed his book, taking a mental note of what page he was on before sitting up straight. "Well she should be home soon, you can always wait here."

The half breed huffed and took a seat on the floor in front of the empty couch. He wasn't so sure why he should wait. Sure Kagome was a key part in their search for the shards but they could manage without her just fine. It wasn't like she was much of a fighter anyway.

He looked at the human for a second. The teen had opened his book again eye's glued to the pages. How would he do in a fight against a demon? Better then kagome he was sure, but would he be as strong as Sango or Miroku? Or maybe he'd be as useless as Shippo. He didn't seem like much of a fighter. The whole idea was pointless anyway, he couldn't pass through the well.

Besides he'd probably wet himself as soon as he seen another demon.

"Are you going to stare at me all day. Not that I don't like the attention." Hojo said, wishing he could take it back the moment it slipped out. He could feel his face burn up. Of course Inuyasha wouldn't take it like that, would he? Maybe he'd think it was a joke, or sarcasm.

He kept his eye's glued to his book, too scared to look up and see the reaction. Why didn't he think before he spoke?

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the boy, he wasn't sure how to take that. It was just too odd of a thought, that maybe this kid was _off_. Like, Jakotsu, had been. He didn't seem like it. From what he'd seen in this time Hojo was like any other male his age.

But if he was, did that mean he was attracted to him? How do you treat people who were like that anyway? Especially if they like you. Do you treat them the same way you treat a girl, who's feelings you didn't return?

He mentally scolded himself, that was a stupid question. besides, he was probably reading to much into it. The kid was probably being sarcastic or something. "Do you know how to fight?" He asked deciding not to bring up the subject at all. Their wouldn't be a point in it.

Hojo's head practically snapped in the half demons direction. "What? Why?"

"Just curious. Kagome's fighting skills are non-existent. I was just wondering if you had any fighting ability. Not that it would do us much good from here."

The teen held in a sigh, grateful that the other hadn't mentioned his slip up. "I don't know, I've never had to fight before." He said setting his elbow on the arm of the chair and holding his head in his hand. "I would imagine I'd be able to hold my own well enough. But, like I said I don't know."

"Anyone would be better then Kagome."

"You seem to have very conflicting opinions about Kagome." He replied turning a page of the book, not that he was actually read anymore. "One minute she's an important key to your group, the next she useless."

Inuyasha crossed his arms and leaned against the couch. "She's the only one who can sense the jewel shards but, she can't defend herself too well. It gets a bit frustrating worrying about her while I'm in the middle of a fight. It doesn't help that she won't practice archery. What's the point of using a bow if you don't practice with it? At least she's resourceful."

Hojo, silently shook his head. Why did Inuyasha complain about Kagome and then compliment her. Even if the compliment was meant as an off handed fact, it showed that he was willing to tolerate her. But hojo had to wonder just _how_ horrible Kagome's archery skills were. If she had been fighting demons for this long, why hadn't she signed up for an archery team? He was sure there was one at school.

Silence overtook the room for the next fifteen minutes. Inuyasha sat back with his eyes focused on one thing or another. Hojo went back to reading, having to flip back a few page to figure out where he left off. He would look over at the half demon ever now and then to try to read the expression on the others face. Some were amusing and others made him worry.

The door opened loudly. Kagome rushing into the house only to stop dead in her track and stare at Inuyasha, irritated. "I told you I wasn't coming back until tomorrow!"

Inuyasha stood up and glared at her. "We have a lead on Naraku. The trail could be gone by then." He didn't carehow angry she was at this point, the trail was already fading and they needed to hurry before it disappeared completely.

The girl gave him a stern look before looking over at Hojo. "Ca-"

"Considerate it done. Do you even have to ask anymore?" He replied already knowing what she was going to ask. They been going through this routine for a few months. It was a given that when the girl had to go fight, he would take down notes for her and go through them with her when she came back.

"Thanks Hojo!" She looked back to Inuyasha again. "You better not be lying, I have a test tomorrow." she stated and started up the stairs.

"Where are you going now?" Inuyasha yelled up after her.

"I'm going to the bathroom and then I gotta pack! Just stay down there and don't bother Hojo!"

Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he sat back down. What was it with her and bossing him around.

* * *

It took ten minutes for Kagome to get ready. Ten minutes more then Inuyasha would have liked, he had already been waiting for her for too long. It took another five just to say good bye to Hojo, another thing that shouldn't have taken more then a minute. How hard was it to say ' See ya later.' and jump down the well.

Kagome was walking ahead of him, still angry about the unexpected visit, but did she think she had aright to be? She was part of the team wasn't she? She was the only one who could sense the shards other then Kikyo and if they got Kikyo to help, which he doubted she would, Kagome would sit him him until he was crippled. It wasn't his fault she had a test tomorrow. What was he supposed to do wait until her test was over while the trail disappeared and Naraku became even stronger?

Besides it was mostly her fault the Jewel shattered in the first place.

"Kagome!"

Shippo launched himself at the girl almost knocking her back. Inuyasha rolled his eye's at the child's hyper attitude. The kid had been like that since they found him. At least the brat had stopped getting him in trouble so much.

Kagome hugged the little fox , "Hi Shippo! Have you been good?"

"Of course! Well, I knocked over a clothes line while playing tag but it was an accident." He said laughing as he climbed onto Kagome's shoulder.

"What took you guys so long? Everyone's been waiting for you." the small demon said. The impatience in his tone didn't go unnoticed.

Kagome smiled at him. "Sorry, I got held back after class. I wasn't expecting to have to come back so early."

"It's okay! Schools important in your time right? So it's fine."

Inuyasha glared at the back of the child's head. It wasn't fine and the kid knew it, what was the point in comforting her about something like this? The only thing it did was giver her the impression she could do it again. Kagome was one of his closest friends, he would never tell her that something like this was okay.

He knew she was angry at him, but did she think she had aright to be? She was part of the team wasn't she? She was the only one who could sense the shards other then Kikyo and if they got Kikyo to help, which he doubted she would, Kagome would sit him him until he was crippled.

Besides it was mostly her fault the Jewel shattered in the first place.

Did she not realize that if Naraku got that jewel he would kill them all? This wasn't a game. If she's not here with them, then they won't be able to purify the shard and then they won't be able to put them together. If they couldn't use the jewel then it could wind up with someone just as evil as Naraku and the whole thing would start over again.

Suddenly Inuyasha was wishing it had been Hojo in Kagomes place. That kid was more level headed then Kagome will ever be. Not that he himself had any room to talk, but he knew that he had something important to do and where he needed to be. Kagome on the other hand was all over the place.

Or maybe that wasn't right. Hojo went to school to and seemed to be more into the school thing then kagome was, so perhaps there would have been a problem with Hojo too.

This whole thing was confusing. Maybe he should forget about Naraku and take off and let the others deal with him and Kagome. Not that his pride would ever let him do that.

"Inuyash, would you hurry up!" Kagome yelled behind her as she reached Kaede's hut and ducking inside.

Sometimes, only sometimes, Inuyasha wished that he had killed her on the first day they met. Because, now he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it.

Hojo had abandoned his book after they left, too worried now to read. He was drink tea trying to calm his nerves but he already knew it wouldn't help.

Why did someone like Naraku have to exist? He knew Inuyasha was the type of guy that would jump into a fight without saing a word to his opponent. They already told him that the other demon could kill them if they weren't careful and Hojo for the life of him, couldn't picture Inuyasha being careful if Naraku angered him. Kagome would be careful but she was still only human, and compared to a demon, that wasn't much of a threat.

Inuyasha said Kagome didn't practice archery, and if the Kagomes choice of weapon was a bow, that gave him even more of a reason to worry. It didn't help that Hojo didn't know much about the others that traveled with them. Only that one was a monk, another one was a demon slayer who had a demon cat for a companion and then there was the demon child.

How did Kagomes mother live with this? Usually when he worried about something he woud talk to his mother about it the first chance he got, but how was he supposed to explain this to her. She'd probably tell him he was just over stressed and have weird dreams.

Kagome's mom was already worried and he didn't want to put burden of trying to make him feel better on her shoulders. She was already working hard enough between, making sure the family was taken care of, shopping, and taking Sota to his soccer games or his friends house.

Maybe he should get a relaxing hobby. Something that wasn't school oriented. Then again He probably wouldn't have the time.

He got up, dumping the rest of the tea from his cup down the drain, and wash his dish. He suddenly wasn't in the mood for tea anymore. Maybe he should try taking a nap. He had to get to school early tomorrow so getting as much sleep as possible would be a smart thing to do.

Perhaps they were right, he might just be taking on more then he could handle.

Inuyasha was starting to get frustrated. he could smell Naraku's scent all over the place, Miroku and Sango could sense an evil presence. So why couldn't Kagome sense the jewel shards! "Concentrate harder!"

"I've been at this for ten minutes already. I don't sense anything!." Kagome shout back not bothering to look at him.

Sango sighed and shook her head as Kirara reverted to her smaller form. "It's possible that Naraku might have did this to throw you off, or get you riled up. He's not here, he probably came when we were away from the village."

Inuyasha made an irritated noise and started stomping back to the village. Sango was right, Naraku wasn't here anymore. Kagome couldn't sense the shards. Nothing was left but an evil aura.

"Kagome are you going to go back home?" Sango asked watching the half demon stomp off. She felt a bit bad for Kagome. The girl had things to do in her own time and was constantly being pulled into fights when it was clear she shouldn't be fighting. But they didn't have a choice, she was the only one who could sense the jewel. Perhaps it was balanced out though, she located the shards and they made sure she and the rest of the villagers stayed safe.

Kagome yawn and adjusted her bag. "No, I'll just stay here or a while and take the test late when I get back. I doubt Inuyasha will let me go home with out a fight anyway."

He found himself on the roof again, looking down at the villagers. He wondered what they would do if he went missing. They had started to depend on him to keep the other demons away. With him gone they would be more vulnerable, but they would still have Sango and Miroku, surely those two could keep thing half way normal around here.

The reason for these thoughts was because he was thinking about going after Naraku on his own. Leaving the others behind and just going for it. They might get angry but if he destroyed Naraku wouldn't it be worth it? Then again, they wouldn't just stay here they would eventually search for him.

What if he got killed in the battle with Naraku? What would the others do then? Miroku and Sango weren't weak, but they were human. Humans tire far easier then demons do. All naraku had to do was wear them out.

What of Kagome's family. No one would be able to get to them and tell them. They would drive themselves insane wondering what happened. Kagome's mom would wait up all night making tea, would still be setting the table just in case she came home, still shopping for four instead of three, and keeping stocked on supplies Kagome brought with her. The old man would still be making those useless paper, although he might be aware that every one was gone, the kid would hope that they would come back so Inuyasha could tell him stories about the demons he's fought and then tell him about his games. Hojo.

Hojo would still be writing notes day after day and collecting Kagome's missed assignment, waiting up with the mother, helping the Higurashi's with chores and practicing soccer with Souta. He'd be worrying about them the way he always worried when they weren't there.

Inuyasha didn't like that thought. He didn't want any of them living the rest of their lives wondering if they were ever coming back or if they were dead. He didn't want them to think about how they might of died.

But if he went after Naraku on his own it wouldn't effect much would it?

He shook his head at his own stupidity. Of course it would effect a lot. His friends would become depressed and angry. After that they would become worried about him and continue looking for naraku anyway. It would be pointless and induce unneeded stress.

They might feel like he didn't trust them.

Growling at nothing, he rested his chin on a fist and kept his eye's on the village. He couldn't help but think he was thinking like a whiny depressed human teenager. It was funny that the one human trait he disliked seem to be the one he had.

The humans below him were finishing up their daily routines. Wives and mothers were bring in their laundry and cooking dinner. The kids were going into their homes, finished playing for the day, and the men whether they were farmers, hunter or worked with tool, were starting on there way home.

He wondered absentmindedly where Hojo would fit in here. He doubted the kid would want to be a hunter, he didn't really seem to have any farming experience. He might make a good teacher but what could he possibly teach these people, they didn't really need all the complicated stuff the kid learned at his school place.

While the kid might be willing to do laundry and cook, it would probably get him laughed at. 'He might be able to fish' Inuyasha thought with a laugh. He could picture the kid fallng in the water trying to catch something, or catching something then making a disgusted expression and dropping it. Then at the end of the day they kid would end up with a cold and have to drink the nasty medicine that Kaede made.

As amusing as the thought was, maybe it was a good thing he didn't live here. It might be a disaster.

Suddenly he was struck with an urge to go check on the kid. It was so strange how the kid randomly popped into his head and how every now and again he found himself going to Kagome's time just to see if the kid was okay. Of course he checked on kagome too, but that was out of habbit since the girl seemed to attract trouble.

Hojo on the other hand was cautious and somehow managed to evade situations like Kagome's. But he also didn't have a shard so he was in less danger then the girl, so why did he feel like he had to check on the kid.

He decided to ignore the voiceless nagging this time. He had seen the kid not even three hours ago, there was no way he was going back yet. They were probably in the middle of dinner anyway and how strange would it be for him to show up randomly without Kagome?

Too strange, even for him. Maybe tomorrow before the others woke up, but right now was way too soon.

He laid back on the roof, the humans were finally all in there homes, settling down for the night. He could here Kagome and the others pulling out there sleeping gear and getting ready for sleep. Finally he let himself relax, he should probably get a few hours in as well, the could go and check out that spot again and possibly find something they missed last time.

He didn't know how things would turn out in the end, but he'd protect them for as long as possible. 'Hopefully Hojo doesn't get caught in the middle of things.'

The last thought crossed his mind quickly as he drifted off to sleep. He'd check on the kid later.

* * *

Yeah Inuyasha seems a bit homophobic and ignorant for a second. I just figured that he would think this way because of two things. One being the fact that as far as he is aware, he's straight (for now). Second being his experience with gay men isn't all that pleasant. Don't worry though it'll get better.

Also if there are alot of errors or the characters are geting to OOC let me know. Im not sure if I've said this already or not but it's been awhile since I watch Inuyasha, So the character's personality is indanger of slipping if not careful. There shouldn't be too many errors in spelling now since I finally got a program with spell check to work. lol. Computer hate me.

-VJ


	10. Promise

_I'm so sorry. So so so sorry. I haven't had a computer that functioned properly for a while and it's just been completely painful to try to get any type of writing done when the computer wants to crash or randomly delete file or when the flash drive get broke. So, yes I'm very sorry._

_I can't remember off the top of my head who it was (and I'm too lazy to look it up) but someone asked me if the story had a beta. The answer is No, there isn't one. You'd think with my horrible grammer and the fact that no matter how many times I re-read it I never seem to get the mistakes out, I would have tried to find one. . . I'll blame it on my laziness. . .and the creepy face on Adult Swim that just distracted me for a whole few seconds._

_Someone else (still too lazy to look up names) also mention a while ago about Hojo not trying to go down the well. Truth is I haven't decided whether or not he should be able to go down the well. I've got ideas for both fuedal and modern era but I can't decide. So feel free to tell me your opinion on whether or not he should go down the well._

_**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Inuyasha**_

**Chapter Ten: Promise**

It had been a week since Hojo had his little slip up. He had been stressing about it since the half demon had left. He thought Inuyasha might have figured something out because of it. However, it didn't seem like he even remembered it.

Inuyasha had greeted him as he normally did, with a 'Hey, kid.' before Kagome's grandfather would put him to work, moving boxes around and lifting anything heavy in general.

He wanted to go out there and help Inuyasha with the work, but he wasn't sure if he should try to start a conversation with the other man or not. If he did, would Inuyasha know something was bothering him, or, would he not think anything of it. It could be either one. Inuyasha was complicated for some reason. Not complicated like he was unpredictable, because Inuyasha was pretty much an open book in most cases. It was just that he could be oblivious to certain things and with others he was right on target. Sometimes without even realizing it.

The half demon most likely wouldn't except the help anyway. He should probably just go make sure he got all Kagome's notes in order. At least it would keep him half way occupied.

He sighed as he sat back down at the table. Organizing the notes wasn't something he liked to do. He liked school. He liked to learn, but dealing with notes wasn't as fun as the actual learning process. However, Kagome was a close friend, who he was starting to consider family. He was taught from a young age that you sometimes had to go out of your way to help people and that doing things you didn't like to help someone else was the right thing to do.

It was true. A lot of the times helping others meant sacrificing something. Being a doctor, his mother sacrifices sleep. Kagome was sacrificing her grades to help fight demons. He, himself, sacrificed his free time to help his friends and peers at school with whatever they needed help with.

The last time he had any time to his self was a week ago when Inuyasha stormed in asking for Kagome.

_'So maybe taking care of notes won't help me keep my mind off Inuyasha.' _Hojo thought, tapping a pencil against the paper for a moment before setting it a side and glancing over the paper.

He doubted anything would keep his mind occupied for long. At least he could talk to his mother about it later. Not that she would be much help since she had taken a liking to teasing him non stop about his crush on the other male.

Straightening out the papers, he put them in a folder and set it to the side for when Kagome, came back. It was odd, her and her mother had been gone for nearly three hours. They were only supposed to run to the store to get a few things for dinner. _'Maybe they stopped somewhere else.'_ He thought as he started putting his books back in his school bag.

The door to the kitchen opened and agitated grumbling filled the room. Hojo looked over at Inuyasha, and had to fight the urge to run. He shoved his nervousness into the back of his mind the best he good, and smiled. "Done already?"

"You would think, but the very second I'm done with one thing he finds something else for me to do." Inuyasha stated glaring at nothing. "If you ask me he's just being lazy. Most of that stuff isn't even heavy."

Hojo would be lying if he said he didn't feel sorry for him. He would also be lying if he said he didn't like to see Inuyasha mad. It was just amusing to see for some reason.

Maybe it was just him, but it seemed like Inuyasha was exaggerating his annoyance for show. Not to impress anyone. More like he was keeping up his appearance of a stubborn tough guy.

"What are you grinning for?"

"No reason." Hojo hadn't realized how big his smile had gotten. He looked away from Inuyasha and went back to putting his books away. "Did you need something?" He asked.

He wasn't sure why he asked. It wasn't like the half demon didn't know his way around the house. Probably just the manners that had been drilled into his head since he could walk. This wasn't even his house.

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, "No. I'm just hiding from the old geezer."

"Alright, I'll be upstairs. My mother's going to be here soon." He said feeling the sudden urge to get away from the other returning. "Let me know if you need something."

He walked out of the room and quickly made his way to the guest room. Why was it that every time they were in the same room, he felt like Inuyasha could read his mind? It was ridiculous. He was so paranoid around the man.

He needed to get over it quickly before Inuyasha realized something was up. He didn't think Inuyasha would take it to nicely, if he found out. Not a lot of people would.

Of course, he didn't know Inuyasha that well, yet. So he wasn't to sure what the other man thought about same sex relationships. But how was he supposed to find out? He couldn't just walk up to him and ask.

Okay, he could, but that wasn't exactly something that you were supposed to be so blunt about.

He could probably ask Kagome, but she didn't know he was into guys. After those years trying to get her to go out with him, she probably thought he was completely straight.

Why was this even bothering him so bad? It was just a little crush, maybe infatuation. It would pass and hopefully it would pass soon.

Hojo couldn't help but feel frustrated at the whole situation. He never had these issues with his crushes before.

He never felt like he had to avoid the person. Never felt like he had to watch what he said. He definitely never tried to hide how he felt. He did the complete opposite. He would talk to them, give them gifts and try to hang around them as much as possible.

He'd never been afraid of rejection either. Until he met Inuyasha. Why? The man was nothing special. Well not amazingly special. He was half-demon, but he wasn't really focused on that.

If you dismissed the fact he was a half-demon, then he was just a normal person with a bad attitude. Inuyasha wasn't the type of person he would go for. Short fuse, rude, loud and lacking even the most simple manners.

What was it about Inuyasha that was intimidating? He wasn't the most sympathetic person Hojo had ever met but he wasn't heartless. He was sure Inuyasha wouldn't kill him but if he knew, he might stop talking to him.

That thought didn't settle to well.

Rolling his eyes at his own thoughts, Hojo started getting his bags of clothes together. His mother wasn't going to be her for another couple of hours but she wasn't going to wait around if he wasn't ready on time.

* * *

Inuyasha was confused. Every time he came back and seen the kid, he was either really friendly or acting like a skittish mouse. He would say a short polite greeting and then scamper off like he was a shy child without there mothers skirt to hide behind. It was starting to get on his nerves.

Despite all the insults and arguments he actually didn't mind hanging around the kid. It was better then listening to Kagome complain about her school stuff or listening to the old geezer spew out not so idle threats. So when Hojo ran off every time he seen Inuyasha it was aggravating.

He knew something was wrong here, but he couldn't really figure out what it was. Did he upset the kid somehow. He didn't seem angry. Did he scare him? Inuyasha couldn't recall threatening him or doing anything that could be considered a threat. Yet, the human acted as if he was afraid of him.

Maybe he just figured out how scary demons could actually be. Inuyasha smirked at the thought but he already knew that wasn't the case.

It was probably best not to think about it too much. The kid had been a bit of a weirdo since he met him. How he would seem to get upset randomly and how he was overly polite when he was around adults or at school. It shouldn't be a surprise that he was suddenly wary around the half demon. He'd be back to normal soon.

Inuyasha headed up to Kagome's room, hoping to get away from the crazy old man and just relax until the girl got back. As soon as he got into the room he made himself comfortable on her bed. It wasn't like she was using it right now anyway. It would be the first time he fell asleep on her bed while she was gone.

However, it seemed he wasn't going to get any rest. He could here Hojo moving around in the guestroom. He could make out the sound of him shuffling his feet across the floor and moving things around. The irritating sound of that thing he learn not to long ago was a stapler and the movement of paper. This all went on four the next fifteen minutes before his ears perked up at one sound in particular.

Glass braking. It was followed by a few muffled words. The half demon found himself sitting up again, and listening more intently for any sign of trouble. The shuffling stopped and he was almost ready to jump out of the bed before the silence was replaced with actual footsteps and a door opening. He could hear Hojo curse under his breath about his own carelessness.

Inuyasha smirked to himself, finding the little incident entertaining. The kid wasn't clumsy, he was 'perfect' in everything he did. From school work to simply walking. His posture was straight, he didn't drag his feet, good grades, wrote neatly, was never late, he spoke clearly and didn't mumble. At least that's how he was around other people.

Inuyasha found out that Hojo preferred to slouch when he did his work, grumbled to himself and cursed when he was angry, dragged his feet when he was tired, was only sincerely polite to his elders and was well mannered to his classmates because he didn't want to be rude, and he didn't like getting up early. In fact, when ever he could he would turn off his ringing clock and continue sleeping.

Inuyasha hadn't learned any of this on purpose. He had just been watching over the kid when he was by himself at his own home. He wasn't sure why his mother left him there alone so much.

Hojo seemed to have a good relationship with his mother, but how was that possible when she was hardly around? How did a mother leave her child alone in the middle of the night when the child was most likely to get killed? He understood there weren't many demons in this time, or at least hadn't seen many, but there were other dangers like robbers and murderers. He'd seen things about it on the 'television'.

How could you be on good terms with someone who leaves you alone so often when your most likely to be attacked?

He just didn't understand humans.

* * *

Hojo had broken his drinking glass, causing it to not only leave a pile of glass behind but the contents of the glass spilt all over the floor. How the glass had broken on the carpet? He hadn't a clue. What he _did_ know was that he had been thinking about a certain cranky, dog eared, silver haired man. Was it reasonable or logical to blame said man? No. You'd have to be completely selfish to believe that. Did it make him feel better? Oh, yes. Yes it did.

Or not.

Hojo sighed in aggravation at himself for wanting to blame the other man. It wasn't his fault that Hojo spaced out and hadn't been paying attention. _'Maybe I should stay home for a few days and try to avoid him for a while. It probably won't help, but at least I would be breaking my own dishes.' _He thought as he placed the towel on the floor to soak up the water.

He glanced up at the clock hoping that by some strange miracle his mother would be there any second. Unfortunately it was only fourteen minutes passed noon. He still had two hours and a hand full of minutes left. He really wanted to talk to his mother right now. She'd be able to give him some advice or answers. Any form of guidance would help really.

He sat on the floor next to the towel and covered his face with his hands, holding back a frustrated groan. This wasn't fair. It definitely was not fair in any sense of the word. It would be so much easier if he had never met the man.

It wouldn't matter how easy it would be if he could just tell Inuyasha how he felt without the man freaking out or never speaking to him again. Or at least feeling like that's how he'd respond to a small confession. Hojo had never actually feared another guys reaction. He never hesitated to ask a guy out. There was a clear difference between asking out a girl and asking a boy though. With girls it was fine there weren't any real rules aside from being decent and not acting like an insane creepy jerk-off. With guys however, you had to make sure that they were into other guys. Then you had to make sure no one judge-mental was around at the time you asked them. Mostly because it could start trouble, but the guy just might not want others to know. So timing was important. How he wished it could be the same for both. Unfortunately it wasn't.

With girls it was simply because it was 'normal'. A guy was expected to ask a girl out somewhere down the line. Expected to get married and have a family of his own. With guys there was the fact that if the school found out there would be bullying involved and it could get violent. It wasn't as accepted as some people wished it was.

With the guys he had went out with it was kept a secret from the rest of the school. He himself wasn't afraid of other people knowing, but he wasn't going to force the other to tell anyone if they were scared. He never felt anger over it. Disappointment maybe, but never angry.

On the off chance that Inuyasha and him got into a relationship, would Inuyasha want to keep it a secret? Or would he not care if anyone knew?

Taking a deep breath, he stood up. He didn't have time for this sort of thing. There was school work to do. His own work that he'd neglected to do all morning. He wanted to get it done before his mother got there. They hadn't spoken for a while and it wouldn't be much fun if he was doing homework the whole time.

Standing up, he grabbed his text books of the desk and went over to the bed. If he had to hide in the room until his mother got there he should at least be comfortable.

* * *

Kagome mother's voice filled the house two hours later. "Inuyasha! Hojo!"

Hojo nearly had a heart-attack. He hadn't heard her come in. What was it with mothers and sneaking into their own homes? He could recall several occasions when his own mother came home in the early hours of the morning and woke him up just by cracking his bedroom door open to check on him. Sometime it would just be little noise he heard from the kitchen.

He never went down stairs just incase it wasn't his mother, but he was sure to keep his cell phone close.

He looked down at his paper and decided he could do the rest later when his mother went to sleep. He climbed off the bed and put his books away. He threw his bag on his shoulder and remembered last minute to pick the towel off the floor.

He passed by Inuyasha on his way out, and tried to ignore the half demon. Unfortunately he couldn't stop himself from smiling to the other and saying hello. He was able to make his way downstairs before Inuyasha could reply.

He dropped his bag off at the front door so he wouldn't forget it when he left. The teen walked into the dining room, were he could here the two women of the talking. "Yes ma'am?" he asked when he walked in. They were standing around the table, taking the groceries out of the bags.

Mrs. Higurashi looked and smiled cheerfully. "Hello dear. Are you going to be here for dinner? I know your mother is picking you up tonight but I wasn't sure about the time." She asked. As she continued un-bagging the food.

He smiled back and started helping by putting the food away. "No. She'll be here an hour before dinner. I do appreciate the thought though." He said, placing a loaf of bread on the counter .

"Oh, your welcome." She replied, handing him a container of juice. "Remember, you're welcome here anytime. I just need to know if I'm setting you a place at the table. . .that goes for you to Inuyasha." She added the last statement with a laugh. She could tell the man was in the living room, listening to their conversation.

"Grandpa went to the market, It's safe!" Kagome said as she put some fruits an bowl, shaking her head. She was over the humor of it by now. It's been a few year now. Inuyasha lurking about trying to avoid her grandfather was no longer funny. She just wished she knew how her mother always seemed to know when the half demon was eavesdropping.

Inuyasha walked in with a scowl. "If the old man wasn't always trying to put me to work or kill me, I wouldn't be hiding."

"You almost sound scared Inuyasha." Hojo smirked as he shut the refrigerator. He wasn't positive, where the courage to speak to the man came from. On the inside he felt that familiar urge to escape, even though he wasn't trapped. He was allowed to leave whenever he wanted. It was stupid to feel that way.

"Terrified." Was Inuyasha's sarcastic reply. He sat down on a chair, something he had grown accustomed to when he visited the modern era.

"It's not that bad, it's just a bit of paper and some talk. It's not like you're actually in any danger you know." Kagome stated rolling her eyes.

Hojo watched Inuyasha glare half heartedly at her. It was still strange for him to think this was normal. When he first met Inuyasha he worried about the two, because all they seemed to do was fight. It was recently that he would find himself smiling when he would walk into the Higurashi home to hear the two friends bickering.

The girl huffed at something the half-demon said and turned back to the food. She grabbed a few cans and stomped all two feet to the cabinet.

He looked over at Inuyasha, who looked victorious for some reason. Hojo really wished he had been paying attention to what the two had been saying.

He flinched when Kagome slammed the cabinet doors shut. She stood there with her hands on the wooden doors for a moment before returning to the table.

"Fine, we'll go after dinner. As long as you don't try to rush me." She stated and left no room for the other to argue.

That nearly made him flinch again. They were talking about going after that Naraku guy again. You'd think he'd be use to this by now, but he was far from it. He still remained on edge and worried until they would came home. Sometime they would be perfectly fine and other times one or both of them would be hurt. When they came home with injuries Hojo felt guilty. Like he should be helping them somehow, like it was his fault. He felt like a bad friend.

He knew logically, there wasn't anything he could do. That didn't stop him from feeling like he wasn't doing everything he could. Suddenly feeling depressed, he sighed. "I'm going to go get the rest of my stuff together before my mother gets here. Excuse me." He said as politely as he could at the moment, and left the room.

Inuyasha watched the human male leave the room, curiously. The kid just excused himself and left for no apparent reason.

"Inuyasha, what did you say to Hojo while we were gone?" Kagome said accusingly.

"What? I didn't say anything!" He shouted back standing up defensively. "Why does his change of attitude have to be my fault?"

The girl glared at him and crossed her arms "You were the only one home!"

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so'? Go apologize!"

Inuyasha would have slapped the girl if he wasn't against it. Why was she dead set on it being something he did wrong. He had one short conversation with the kid and he knew he didn't say anything offensive. It was the glare she was giving him however that made him bite his tongue. She was going to fight tooth and nail for him to admit he done something wrong. She was going to nag and nit-pick until he lost his temper, and he knew why.

She was looking for a way to get out from going to the feudal era. It was something she had been doing for the past year. She didn't do it constantly, but there were times when she wanted to stay home. Inuyasha understood that she wanted to spend time with her friends and family. He understood that she was tired of hunting down Naraku and getting caught up in trouble at every turn.

He felt the same way. He was half demon, fighting was in his nature. Chasing down the same enemy for three years with very little progress wasn't. He wanted nothing more then to kill the bastard and move on with his life, but he wasn't about to let Kagome just start taking breaks when she didn't need them. "Fine, I'll go say sorry to the guy, for whatever it is I could have possibly done wrong." He said and followed Hojo's trail up to the guestroom.

Instead of knocking, he glared at the door before walking in. He immediately spotted the teen laying on the bed, looking at him.

"Don't you knock?"

"No"

". . . At least you used the door this time." He said and sat up. "My mother wasn't to happy from your visit. You got mud on the blanket."

Inuyasha shut the door and walked over to the bed and sat on the edge closest to the door. "Are you always this strange?"

The teen looked at him with a raised brow and rested his head on a his hand. "What are you talking about." He asked looking towards Inuyasha but not at him. He was keeping his focus on the closet.

Inuyasha noticed how the younger man was avoiding looking at him. It seemed odd since Hojo always looked at someone when he was talking to them. "You're happy one moment, then your depressed, you get angry randomly and sometimes your like this." Inuyasha stated, pointing at Hojo's bored expression.

The teen smirked. "Are you saying I have mood swings?" He asked looking from the closet to Inuyasha ears.

"I'm saying that you're acting strange." Inuyasha felt like he was walking into a trap. Why was the kid looking at his ears. "Did I do something to piss you off?"

That seemed to get the other males attention. Hojo finally looked at him, eyes wider then normal and looking worried. "Why would you think that?"

"Maybe it has something to do with you lying to come up here and hide and Kagome yelling at me to apologize for whatever I did." He nearly growled, agitated that he had to say sorry for nothing.

Hojo smiled though, and sat a bit straighter. "You haven't done anything. I'm sorry if Kagomes blaming you for the negative mood I've been in but it's not your fault. I'm just a bit stressed out and worried. It's nothing you said or did."

"That's it. Your all moody because you're stressed?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. What was the kid so stressed about anyway? All he did was go to school. Kagome did that and she. . .

Nevermind.

The teen nodded, his face turning a light shade of red. "I'm not. . .I'm not good at handling so many things at once. I mean between school and you guys going off to fight all time, then my mother's schedule becoming even more hectic, and everything else, I guess it's just all catching up to me."

"You're worried about us?" He asked as if it was the only part he heard. It would be stupid to ask why. The answer was undeniably obvious.

"I'm not exactly as emotionally strong as Mrs. Higurashi. She can sit quietly and drink tea when she worried. I on the other hand have to dive into my school work and keep my mind busy, because if I think about it to much I'll go insane." He explained looking down.

Inuyasha thought the teen looked a embarrassed. Red in the face and he was avoiding eye contact again. It was kind of a difficult thing to admit how you felt to someone, so Inuyasha couldn't blame him. What he found disturbing was the fact that he himself was feeling an awkward kind of warmth in his chest.

He felt the urge to comfort the teen, to hug him a tell him that they'd all be fine. However, he couldn't bring himself to. Hojo was a man, more or less. Men just didn't comfort each other that way. Hugging some one to comfort them was something a man only did with a woman, or a child. Not another man.

Inuyasha couldn't look at the teen anymore and turned his on eyes to the desk. "I don't know what to tell you. I can't promise that we'll survive. " He said bluntly, straight to the point.

"I don't want comfort, Inuyasha. Especially if you're going to lie just to make me feel better. I'd rather have the truth." He said slouching forward and resting his head on his hand again.

Inuyasha didn't have to look see the kid to know that he looked exhausted. He just wasn't sure what to do. If it was Kagome he'd say a few reassuring words to her and hope that it would lift up her spirit's a bit. How was he supposed to cheer this guy up?

Suddenly a loud sound of a car horn illed the silent room. Hojo got up and looked at the window. "My mother's here." he said.

Inyasha watched the boys visible change in mood. Maybe his mother was who he needed to talk to about this. Something about that thought cause Inuyasha's warm feeling to vanish. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

He watched Hojo walk over to the door and stop. "Inuyasha? There is one thing you _can _promise me." He said

Inuyasha looked at him and stood up off the bed. "Yeah? What?"

"Promise me you'll try to survive and not act reckless."

Inuyasha looked at him seriously for a few seconds before nodding. "I promise to try." He said and earned a smile in return.

"Thank you." Hojo said before walking out the door.

The half demon walked over to the window and looked out. He could see a green car on the road. A light shining from inside of it. It wasn't long before he saw Hojo running up to the car opening a door and setting his things down, before closing it and opening another door. He got inside himself and as soon as the door closed the car drove off.

Inuyasha felt a little better then he had been, but at the same time he felt worse. It wasn't a feeling he could explain. All he knew was he promised the kid something and he was going to try like hell to keep that promise.

* * *

_Not much but, at least it's getting somewhere. . .right? Sorry if it sorta loses it's quality (if you can call it that) around the end. It's four in the morning and I'm half asleep at the computer. . .Hopefully since I have a computer now that doesn't completely hate my guts I'll get another chapter up soon.. .Hopefully_

_Again, feel free to. . . vote I guess? on whether or not Hojo should go down the well. Or to just point out whatever I'm doing wrong._

_Your patience is appreciated. It truly is._

_-VJ_


	11. Guard Dog

_Inspiration to finish this chapter brought on because Jakotsu was on tv freaking Inuyasha out again. Very sorry for the long wait and I hope the Chapter is decent enough to read for those of you who are still waiting for this story to be done. I still do not have my own working computer so it's still difficult to write and post anything. But, h__ave I mentioned that I'm sorry? _

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**_

**Chapter Eleven: Guard Dog**

Inuyasha was almost certain this was considered stalking. He had been following Hojo around all day. From the time the kid woke up until the time he had gotten out of school. He waited outside on the roof of the store that the teen went into and stuck a good distance away so he wouldn't be seen.

It was odd. Kagome had said something about a 'bad feeling.'. By bad feeling she meant there were guys giving him a rough time in his neighborhood, so she told him to follow Hojo around for a while and make sure nothing happened.

It wasn't something that Inuyasha was about to argue over. Hojo had somehow managed to sneak into his close circle of friends. From what Kagome had told him the ones messing with the teen weren't anyone you wanted to mess with and Hojo being the way he was, wouldn't be able to stand up to them very well.

What she said was true. There had been a group of guy who yelled insults at Hojo and tried to provoke him into retaliating. Hojo appeared to be calm as he walked past them, ignoring their comments and keeping his eyes forward.

As calm as he looked, Inuyasha could almost feel his fear. He could definitely smell the bitter sweat that was associated with fear. With a clenched jaw and slightly heavier footsteps, the fear was accompanied by anger. It wasn't an unusual combination, Inuyasha knew that. He himself had felt the two emotions before during battles that went on longer then his human companions could keep up with, or when an enemy attack during a new moon.

Sometimes fear could cause the anger. An animal that was being threatened had two choices, run or stand their ground and no one in the animal world would blame them for baring teeth and growling. Hell, demons would shun you if you didn't fight back. But, Hojo was neither animal or demon. He was full blooded human, and Inuyasha learned quickly that some humans didn't necessarily fight fair. The carried weapons called guns and traveled in groups to out number and over power their victims.

What surprised him was that Hojo hadn't said anything. That he didn't even give the bastards a first look let alone a second. The way his hands gripped the bags until his knuckles turned white was the only reason Inuyasha knew that Hojo was playing it smart. Not safe, smart. To play it safe Hojo would have to take another route home.

The teen must have realized since the first day he couldn't fight the delinquents in the alley. He didn't know if he was more relieved that the kid was smart enough to know when to back off, or more frustrated that the kid wasn't standing up for himself, despite the fact he'd get his ass kicked. Or maybe these guys carries were the kind that carried guns?

He jumped down from the large building and onto a slightly smaller building two roofs across. It gave him a complete view of the street Hojo was on now. This street had three buildings that were connect and housed a lot of people. He never really got an urge to check it out before. It hadn't ever caught is interest before, but he could smell something inside. It was a familiar smell that he could recall smelling at night in human villages and a smell of something foreign and unknown. Right now however he wasn't in a position to run off and give the humans privacy, he had to watch the kid.

Hojo paused on the sidewalk for a moment and looked at another store, tilting his head to the side. Inuyasha was sure he'd go in, but he didn't. He nodded at no one and continued walking. Probably deciding to return when he wasn't in danger.

Inuyasha's ears twitched underneath the hat. He heard hushed voice, and some sniggering. The teen must have heard it too, because he started walking a bit faster, shoes starting to scrap against the concrete. The scent of fear doubled, Hojo was starting to panic and Hojo's panic was making Inuyasha more irritated.

"what a snob."

"He's gotta be loaded"

"Probably never even been in a fight. Can I break his legs?"

"Break his skull if you want."

The half-demon glared at the direction of the voices. There were four all together but only three were talking. The number count didn't matter, he needed to deal with the issue either way. Kagome told him not to do anything that would draw attention to himself. So jumping down and revealing that he wasn't completely human, wasn't an option.

Maybe if he was walking with Hojo, it would make them back off. He moved quickly to the next street Hojo would turn down. Jumping off the roof he landed silently as possible, and waited for Hojo to turn. He could hear Hojo getting closer to him and the gang getting closer to Hojo.

Inuyasha watched as the teen spotted him and froze in shock. It must have been strange that someone you hadn't seen in two weeks, suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The shock didn't last to long. A loud sound of metal hitting concrete reminded Hojo that he was being followed. He flinched and ran over to Inuyasha.

The half-demon seen the younger males eye's light up with something he could only describe as relief. A time like this was probably meant for some heroic line or something cool. However the words that came out of Inuyasha's mouth wasn't heroic or cool.

"Hey." He greeted the kid in a bored, flat tone.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing here I thought you and Ka-"

"Look I told you he was strange." The raspy voice that cut him off was answered with laughter.

Inuyasha noticed the way Hojo tensed and gripped tightly on to the strap of his book bag. Looking over at the guy who spoke he matched the face to one of the voices. This man was the guy that wanted to break Hojo's legs. Greasy hair matted with dirt and too thin to be natural. His tattoo covered arm holding a metal stick. "You got a problem with the kid?"

The man snorted and hit the side of the wall in what he assumed was supposed to be a threatening gesture. However to, Inuyasha, he just looked like an idiot hitting a brick wall.

"Yeah we gotta problem with the little prick. Ignoring us like he's some kind of royalty." the man said spitting of to the side, making Inuyasha sneer in disgust. Not from the spitting but the smell of what ever the man had cleared from his mouth. Human saliva was only ever slightly foul after taking certain medicine or eating certain foods. Perhaps this human got ill recently?

He pushed the thought away. The mans health didn't matter, he was trying to hurt Hojo. The half demon stepped in front of Hojo, getting annoyed by the men. "Can't say I blame him. I'd ignore trash like you too." He stated irritably.

"What the hell did you say!" The man shouted, his grip tightening on the metal in his hand. "You looking for a fight?!"

"Fighting you isn't worth my time, but if your challenging me I'll amuse you." He said with a smirk, feeling oddly arrogant right now. It was only a couple of humans, but Inuyasha couldn't seem to gain enough sense to decline. He was supposed to be protecting the kid not getting into unnecessary fights with a weaker species.

Hojo grabbed onto the silver-haired man's sleeve an gave a gentle tug. "Inuyasha, don't." As gentle as the quick tug was, his voice was a lot more stern and maybe a tad bit urgent.

For a second Inuyasha thought about brushing the guys off and taking Hojo home. The kid looked worried and a bit on edge. The gentle tugging on his sleeve had him becoming worried himself. Not because of the thugs, but rather the fact that the teen seemed to not want a fight to happen at all.

A shorter male of the group jabbed the speaker in the side with his elbow. "I guess you found out who's dicks up the kids ass."

Inuyasha stepped towards the guy, glaring. "You trying to get yourself hurt, bastard." He threatened, unsure of why he was so angry to begin with. Was he mad at what the man was insinuating or who it was directed at? Inuyasha already had suspicions about Hojo, and he might not be sure how he felt about that or if he was okay with it, but he knew the kid never hurt anyone and he certainly didn't deserve this guys shit.

"What? You're not his boyfriend?" The greasy haired man smirked. He stepped forward as well and locked narrowed eyes with Inuyasha, in a challenge. "You look the type."

Inuyasha grabbed the man's shirt and slammed him into the brick wall of the store, knocking the wind out of his lungs and the pole out of his hand. "Think of me as an angry guard dog." he growled.

"Inuyasha." Hojo snapped looking around to see if anyone else was on the street. "Just stop it. You're going to seriously hurt them."

Inuyasha watched the man struggle to get free. He let him dangle a few more seconds before dropping him. He could have knocked the kid out with how frustrated he was. "You do realize that they're planning on hurting you?"

He watched Hojo look to the ground, unsure of what to say. Maybe he shouldn't argue with Hojo over this sort of thing, but he couldn't believe this kid sometimes. How do you forgive someone who had the intention of hurting you before they even apologized. While they still planned to hurt you. It didn't make any sense. 'Kid should have been monk.'

Hojo sighed. "I know that, but beating them into a bloody mess won't solve anything." He said looking back up to the Half-demon. "Can you just walk me home and we'll talk about it on the way?"

"Huh? Uh. Yeah." The older man was a little surprised at Hojo's question. He'd never asked him to walk him home before. He always did the opposite and offered to keep his mouth shut and not tell Kagome if Inuyasha didn't want to. She had been the one that always got Inuyasha to walk with him.

He looked back at the human thugs with a glare. He spotted the pipe laying on the ground and picked it up. He bent it a few times before tossing it over the building. If he couldn't kick their asses he was definitely making sure they at least didn't have a weapon to hit him with. The metal wouldn't kill him but he had a feeling it would still hurt like hell if he was struck with it.

He walked away from them and passed Hojo, who he heard follow him. "Don't expect me to be this nice in the future." He said not bothering to hide his frustration.

"Of course not." Hojo replied smiling. He could honestly say he wasn't effected by the half-demons attitude right now. He was too relieved to feel agitated.

The further they got away from the incident, the easy silence between them grew somewhat tense. Not awkward, but there was a tension that neither of them could describe. Finally Hojo looked over at Inuyasha with a sigh. "I'm very grateful for you help. They've been trying to start with me for a while, I really don't know how bad it would have gotten. So Thank you, though I am sorry you had to g-"

"Hell no. Don't start apologizing. If you want to feel all self-hating, do it on your own time." Inuyasha said folding his arms across his chest.

The only thing that gave away Inuyasha's tough guy act was the light blush. He was embarrassed by the gratitude. "Still. . ."

"Look kid, It's not a problem. It's not like they could have done any real harm to me. If you really want to blame someone for inconvenience , Blame Kagome."

Hojo let out a little laugh and shook his head. "Do you blame her for everything?"

"Of course not. Sometime I blame the runt."

"Runt? You mean the fox child? Shippo?" Hojo asked curiously. Inuyasha and Kagome never really talked about their friends from the feudal era. Hojo and Mrs. Higurashi assumed that it was because they never really liked talking about the enemies and stresses of their ongoing fight against the demon Naraku. So Hojo never asked and took what information he could when it slipped out.

He could demand answers, but that would be rude since there was only two reasons Inuyasha came to the present. To retrieve Kagome, and to get away from his time during a new moon. Kagome was too stressed as it was and he didn't want to burden her with anything else.

"Yeah. He's a brat. Always trying to get me sat or something. You know he stole candy out of Kagome's bag and blamed it on me. Of course she took his side. They fall for it every time." He grumbled and slipped his hands into his pockets.

Which made the younger male notice for the first time, were different. It wasn't anything special, Jeans and a sweater jacket. A baseball cap to hide his ears. "doesn't the hat bother your ear?" He asked, looking at it like it was some kind of foreign object.

Inuyasha was a little surprised by the question. When it came to disguising his demon features, his comfort was never really brought up. Kagome had never asked, she would just smash the hat over his ears and tell him what she needed to do, leaving him to adjust the hat to make wearing the damn thing more tolerable. ". . .A little, but I have to hide them so people don't find out.."

The teen nodded. "I get it." He said before looking around. There were too many people around to take it off. That was a little disappointing but it was probably for the best. "So what does Shippo do that tricks Kagome so easily?"

"Cries. Like the sneaky little fox that he is. " Inuyasha replied, easily shifting the conversation back to more simple topics.

Hojo chuckled at the image of a small child tricking women into giving them sweets and giving men evil grins. "So he appeals to the female's mothering instinct."

"Yup." Inuyasha agreed, holding back a smile of his own. It was nice to see the kid not unsure or frowning.

As they approached Hojo's house the door opened. A woman around the same age as Kagome's mom stepped out, arms folded across her chest and a unconvincing frown on her lips. Inuyasha could tell immediately who this was. She didn't even have to come out of Hojo's house for him to figure it out. This woman was the Kids mother.

"Hojo where have you been? You're late." She started and then noticed Inuyasha. "And introduce your friend."

Hojo sighed. "Sorry mother. The meeting ran a bit late and this is Inuyasha. He walked with me after school." He said watching his mother walk pass him and right into Inuyasha's personal space.

The woman took his hand, shook it and smiled brightly. "So you're Inuyasha. Hojo speaks so highly of you!" The woman let go of his hand. "Surely you must be hungry from such a long walk, would you like to come in for a bite to eat?"

Inuyasha was actually considering the offer when he seen Hojo standing behind his mother shaking his head and waving his arms in an urgent manner. "Uh. . .actually I have to get back to Kagome's house before I have to go back to . . .my home. So, maybe some other time."

The woman frown again, this time disappointed. "Alright, perhaps we can set up a lunch date sometime when I'm off work. I'd like to get to know my sons friends." She smiled again this time, calmer. "Have a safe trip home, dear." she bowed politely and turned to her son who was waving goodbye to Inuyasha.

She guided him into the house and looked at her son with a raised eyebrow and one foot tapping the ground. "Is there any particular reason you don't want Inuyasha to eat my food?"

"It's not you're cooking I'm worried about. It's more like the conversations that would accompany it."

"Are you implying I'd embarrass you?" She asked feigning shock.

Hojo deadpanned "Yes."

His mother deflated with a dramatic sigh. "Fine. If I promise to not to embarrass you will you let us have a nice lunch together so I can get to know him better. I do like to know who your hanging out with. We should invite Kagome too. I haven't talked to her properly since you first met her." The woman stated walking into the kitchen and started heating up the dinner that went cold.

Hojo nodded. "I guess we could do that. Maybe we could have lunch at the Higurashi house. You and Ms. Higurashi seem to get along. You're always trading cook books and talking on the phone for too long."

"Trading recipes is common practice among mothers, and it's nice to have friend to talk to that isn't a doctor. Do you know how tiring it is to vent about work to someone you work with? There always comparing there misfortunes with yours." She rolled her eyes and placed a couple bowls and spoons on the table. "Doctors are such jerks sometimes."

Hojo chuckled and looked at the pot on the stove. "Anything special?"

The woman shook her head. "Nope. Just beef stew."

Sitting at the table, the teen looked down at his empty bowl. He was wondering why Inuyasha had been following him. He would like to think the man had been there of his own will, but he knew that Kagome sent him.

He was grateful either way. He wasn't too sure he would have made it home in one piece if the half demon hadn't been there. Plus it was just nice to see him.

"Aw! You're all lovey eyed!" The woman cooed and wrapped her son up her arms, squeezing the breath out of him.

"Mom. . ." was all Hojo could say. His mother was probably right. He certain felt _lovey_ at the moment. Or any moment he thought of Inuyasha. This crush was getting intense.

Inuyasha glared at Kagome from his spot on the couch. She crossed her arms stubbornly and glared back. He turned his head. "No way! We have to hunt down Naraku."

"Hojo needs help, Inuyasha." She said, starting to lose her patience. This had been going on for five minutes. Her trying to convince him to watch over Hojo when he was outside and him refusing. It was strange and infuriating. It was making her angry for obvious reasons, but the strange was due to him changing his attitude whenever it came to Hojo. One day Inuyasha would go off to check on him without her having to even mention him. The next day he wouldn't want anything to do with him.

Hojo wasn't any better. He would either avoid Inuyasha when he came over, or he would follow him around the house. There were times when Hojo would simply keep to himself and just glance at Inuyasha every few minutes. This behavior had left Kagome confused.

"If I'm busy following the kid around playing body guard how are we going to find the jewel shards?" Inuyasha argued.

Kagome sighed. "What if you spent time following home from school until he got home, make sure he doesn't need to go anywhere and then we'll go shard hunting whenever you get back to the feudal era?"

"Do you even think before you talk? what happens if we're too far away to get to the well when he gets out of school?"

"Well there's got to be something! We can't just let Hojo wander around by himself when there's a bunch of thugs after him. He'll get killed!" Kagome shouted getting fed up with the half demons uncooperative attitude.

Inuyasha looked at the desperate face she was giving him. It was something he had never grown an immunity to. Every time she became this worried over someone it put him through a small guilt trip. It didn't help that he knew for certain that Hojo was in a bad situation with those guys trying to hurt him. Why couldn't things just be uncomplicated for once?

"Fine. I'll figure something out. Just go get your stuff." He snapped, irritated that he gave in. 'What is wrong with me? Why can't I just say no?'

He then realized it was difficult to think that way when Kagome smiled happily and ran out of the room to get her bag. The things he did for his friends.

It did make him think though. What was he going to do? It was true that if they were too far away he couldn't just run back and forth like it was nothing. Some of their travels took days to just get to their destination. It would take him alone a few hours to get to the well and back, and hours counted up quick.

Maybe he could fix the problem at the source. It shouldn't take too long to track down the idiots from earlier. Threatening them might make them stop harassing the teen, but it could make the problem worse. What if they spotted the kid one day when he wasn't around? Inuyasha wasn't naive enough to think that a few simple words would definitely have them back off. He'd need to do exactly what Kagome told him not to. He'd have to scare them. That would be fun.

But again, if he wasn't around Hojo could be in more trouble then before. This was getting more complicated then it needed to. He'd just make them very aware he was demon, and that if they threatened anyone under his protection again, he'd kill them. That was simple enough right?

Honestly he didn't think anything would be that simple, ever. What he did know was that all he had in his life were his friends, and his friends were his family. He protected his family, or at least the part of his family that wasn't blood related.

So tonight when the others went to sleep he'd have to make a small return trip and make sure he did just that.

"Inuyasha why are you smirking like that?" she asked with a bit of worry in her tone.

Inuyasha snapped his head towards Kagome's voice. "Like what?"

". . .Never mind. I probably don't want know." She answered before leading the way to the well.

Inuyasha followed behind, wondering what kind of expression he could possibly have made to make Kagome unnerved enough not to question it.

* * *

_Strange scents Inuyasha doesn't recognize, and the ones he does. If your thinking you know what they are, you're probably right. I was seriously considering deleting this whole chapter and starting over completely, but the thought that I hadn't updated in so long kept popping up so I couldn't bring myself to. I just edited it to the best of my abilities and added some things. I'm still sorry for the lack of updates and I'm hoping to fix that soon. All I can really say is thank you to those who have stuck with me this long and that I will try to keep posting as much as possible._

_As always let me know of any noticeable mistakes._

_-VJ_

_P.S - I'm so sorry!_


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